The Avalon Project
by Kraewen
Summary: 10 years after the war the curse of Halloween strikes again and Ava feels that she needs a new beginning away from the constant reminders of what happened to her. She moves to Pasadena, California where she begins a new chapter of her life. And a new project. Fem!Harry
1. Chapter 1 - The Great Escape

AN

Having read a diverse selection of fanfics over the last 2 years I felt compelled to try my hand in creating something myself. I had a lot of fun writing this first chapter and even though I am motivated to continue, I also want to caution you that this is the first time I am attempting such a project. I have no experience with maintaining this motivation over a long period of time. You are warned :)

Also, I discovered that I am a very slow writer, this chapter alone took several weeks to finish. Bear with me please if it takes a little while until I can update again. I'd also like to give a big thank you to my fiancée who is kind enough to act as my beta. If it weren't for her, my language would be noticeably worse.

Please note that Harry Potter and The Big Bang Theory are property of their respective owners. Who I am not. I just use their work to play around. That applies for the entirety of this story so don't be surprised if I do not repeat that again in every chapter.

So, enough of my babbling. Please have fun and if you feel like letting me know how you liked it, you'd be doing me a big favor.

Edit March 19th,2018: Hikari Nova was so kind to call attention to a small blunder I made when writing the story. I got the time difference between the US and the UK wrong by counting into the wrong direction. Stupid mistake, really. In any case I fixed that, along with a couple minor mistakes or changes in language, none of which changes anything in the story, so, no need to reread, it's still the same.

/AN

 **Chapter 1 - The Great Escape**

 _THE GIRL-WHO-LIVED MISSING IN ACTION?_

 _by Lavender Thomas for the Daily Prophet, November 1st, 2007_

 _According to multiple reports from members of the Ministry Of Magic, it is possible that Ava Renée Potter was killed in a battle that took place yesterday evening on the outskirts of Godric's Hollow. Auror Potter and Auror Finnegan were the first to respond to an emergency distress call that reached the Auror Headquarters shortly after 10pm. Another team of four Aurors arrived several minutes later on site, to a scene that showed the signs of a heavy struggle._

 _The leading investigator Auror Weasley confirmed that four bodies were recovered from the site of the battle, but refused any further comment at this point. Eye witnesses claim that they recognised the body of Auror Finnegan as one of the casualties that was removed from the scene. Ava Potter has not been seen since. Numerous members of the wizarding society expressed their concern for the wellbeing and safety of their idol and organized a permanent vigil under the monument in Godric's Hollow that was erected in memory of James and Lily Potter and as a tribute to Ava Renée Potter after the end of the First Wizarding War in 1981._

 _Ava Renée Potter is known to be the first person in written history to survive the Killing Curse and is well regarded for her accomplishments in the Second Wizarding War. During the Battle of Hogwarts she engaged and subsequently killed the Dark Lord V******** in duel. After the war she publicly lent her support to several reforms, that were introduced by Minister Shacklebolt to 'undo the damage done to our society by pureblood supremacy'. Potter joined the Auror Corps where she quickly made a name for herself. One of her biggest successes in her Auror career were the apprehension of the feared werewolf Fenrir Greyback in 2004 and the infamous Death Eater Rabastan Lestrange in 2005. Ava Potter is generally regarded as one of the most powerful and popular witches of our time, and well respected as one of Europe's foremost specialists in Defense against the Dark Arts. Miss Potter is currently unmarried and childless, and although numerous rumours regarding her love live are in circulation, none have ever been confirmed._

 _For a more complete survey of the life of Ava Renée Potter, please read Page 3._

 _Also in this issue:_

 _Recent attacks on muggleborn - A new generation of Death Eaters? (by Morris Greenbridge) Pg.5_

 _Hundreds celebrated Halloween in Diagon Alley, (by Mikasa Waterlog) Pg.6_

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It was with a tired grunt that Ava finally allowed herself to settle down on one of the three dozen moving boxes that littered her new apartment. Just a few moments ago she had bid the people of the moving company goodbye. They had done the lions share of lugging her new furniture and the tightly packed boxes up the two flights of stairs, and while Ava was glad that she didn't had to do it all by herself, she much prefered the solitude of her uncrowded apartment to the busy bustle that had been the rest of her day.

Taking the departure of the movers as her cue that the coast was finally clear, she could hear Wookie scrambling her way out from under the bed. The dog had spent the last few hours in her hiding spot from where she had observed the workers busying away while they assembled and erected what little furniture Ava had picked out at the local IKEA this morning. While the dog was usually a friendly and social animal, she had always been wary of people she didn't know, and the loud noises that accompanied their work did little to endear them to the animal. So Wookie had taken the first opportunity to hide herself away and wait out until the ruckus had died down. Ava just wished she could have done the same.

With the telltale clicking of nails on parquet floor Wookie made her way into the living room to settle down next to her mistress, her size allowing her to lay down her head into the woman's lap. With a tired smile Ava ran her fingers through the thick fur of her companion.

"Finally, just the two of us, huh, sweetie?" Ava murmured "How about this? I'll give a quick call to Hermione and then you get something to eat."

Fishing for her mobile phone in her jeans pocket, she quickly dialed the familiar number. Half a minute later her call was answered.

"Ava, that you?" a happy voice called out.

"Hi Mia, yeah it's me. I'm finally settled in, or at least halfway there. I hope I didn't wake you, I know it's the middle of the night for you." she spoke into her mobile.

"Yeah, that time lag will need some getting used to, but don't worry you didn't wake me. I was up anyway. And I told you I wanted to hear from you, regardless of the time." Hermione answered "Did the move go ok? How is your new flat?"

"Well first of all, they call it an apartment here. Nobody understood me when I called it a flat." Ava huffed "But it's rather nice actually. Pretty big, bigger than I expected anyway. It has two bedrooms, so I guess I can use one of them as an office or so, don't know yet. The move though, urgh, don't get me started. The lease said the house had a lift, guess they forgot to mention that the blasted thing was broken. If I hadn't hired that moving company I'd have been screwed."

"Ava, language!" Hermione remonstrated, though she sounded more amused than stern "You could have hired that magical contractor I found for you in Los Angeles, that probably would have been much easier."

"You know why I didn't choose them, Mia." she sighed tiredly "I didn't want the media to find out where I am. I'm trying to get away from all that shite. Actually, I'll probably go full muggle."

"Hm, I actually suspected as much when you rented that place under your mum's maiden name. Guess I'll need to call you Ava Evans now, huh?"

"Renée."

"Huh?"

"I'll go as Renée Evans here. Ava Evans just sounds terrible." she replied with a smirk "Also it should be more common. I checked the telephone book, you know. There are about a dozen Renée Evanses in the area here. LA is pretty big."

"Hmm, ok." Mia hummed non committedly "But even if you 'go muggle', as you so aptly put it, please promise me that you'll carry your wand regardless, ok? I worry about you, you know, we all do."

When Ava didn't answer immediately, Hermione continued.

"Nev and Ron, are both morose about you leaving. Ron actually started smoking again. And George,..." she hesitated "He looks terrible. I haven't seen him like that since Fred."

"I know it's terrible, Hermione! That's why I left! I…." Ava snapped her mouth shut, and took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, Mia. It's just … I …." She continued in a broken voice.

"I know, I'm sorry, too. Shouldn't have brought it up." Her murmur carried her own sadness. It sounded as if she wanted to start speaking again, but was interrupted by a grumpy whining. Probably the reason why Hermione was up in the first place.

Ava heard the sound from the other end of the line, and immediately felt a new wave of shame and guilt. She knew that it belonged to Rosie, Hermione's one year-old toddler. She hadn't seen her for over 3 months now, since Halloween. More honestly, she had avoided the child like the plague. Some godmother she made. She had decided to go and see the kid probably a dozen times already, but always chickened out, when it came to actually going through with it. The first time she tried, her frayed nerves actually made her throw up her breakfast. Hermione, Merlin bless her soul, seemed to understand though and didn't push her. It didn't save her from feeling disgusted with herself though.

"Erm, listen Hermione, I'm pretty beat." she quickly spoke in a quivering voice, that she was pretty sure Hermione could hear clearly "So, I'm gonna go to bed soon. Probably gonna soak in the bath a bit.

"Alright Ava, just…" Hermione's worried voice answered "Don't be a stranger, ok? With you so far away, I don't want to lose contact. Promise me, we'll speak in a few days."

"I promise, Mia." she said in a defeated voice. "Give Nev and Rosie a kiss, alright."

"I will. I hope you get better, Ava. Love you."

"Love you too."

With a heavy swallow she terminated the call and leaned her head into her hands, startling Wookie up from her place where she still lay in her lap.

"I'm such a fucking coward." she moaned.

A moment later she got up from her place, to look for the box she had marked with a scribbled dogs head before. After a short search she found it in the kitchen area, and opened it to take out two bowls and a bag of kibble. She filled one of the bowls with tap water and the other with the kibble, placing them next to the kitchen counter. She smiled when Wookie immediately and loudly began to devour her food, you could think that she had been starved for a week. Always the same. She patted Wookies side, which prompted the dog to briefly look up to her and then immediately dive back into her bowl, realising that her mistress held no additional food.

With a sigh, Ava went to the bathroom and started to fill the tub. Waiting for the water to fill up, she hesitated for a moment and then went back to the moving box and fished for a moment, producing a glass and a bottle of her favorite whisky. A glass or two would hopefully help her to fall asleep. In any case it was worth a try.

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There was tentative light falling through her window when Ava opened her eyes. Grunting she moved her hand over her mattress hoping that she had remembered to take her phone into the bed with her, sighing relieved when she found it without knocking it to the ground. She activated the display and cringed when the brightness hit her unprepared. 6.30 am, she read on the display. A little surprised she thought back when she she had the last full night of uninterrupted sleep but came up blank. Apparently there was nothing better than absolute exhaustion and a spot of alcohol to get some shuteye. Remembering that for the future, she contemplated staying in bed for a while but eventually swung her legs from the bed and sat up.

Swaying a bit from sudden vertigo and blinking away the spots in front of her eyes, she gave a small glare to the bottle that was noticeably more empty than it was yesterday. Alright, maybe she would go a little lighter on the booze next time.

Switching off her nightlight while lifting herself of the bed, she made her way into the living room and leaned against the doorframe to take in the scene. Wookie had made herself comfortable and lounged sleepily on her new couch, but perked up a little when her mistress entered the room. Most of the new furniture had been assembled yesterday, but with no concept on where to put any of it yet, the pieces had been carelessly shoved to the side. Along with the forty or so moving boxes which waited to be unpacked, she had her work cut out for the day. At least the flat had a built-in kitchen, so all she had to do on that front was unpacking.

But first things first, she decided and resolved to take a shower before she started into her day. She produced a big towel from a box labeled 'Bedding, Towels, Blankets' and found herself fresh clothes in another. Emerging from the shower 20 minutes later she snorted when she saw herself in the mirror. The outfit she had haphazardly picked up had ended up being horribly mismatched. Oh well, she could always change again, when she had to step out. Resigning herself to get started on making her new place liveable she rolled up her sleeves and got to work.

Later that day, Ava was exhausted and hungry and when her stomach began to make increasingly irritated noises she figured that she better stop and began to think on how to get something to eat. She had nibbled two of the nutrition bars that she always carried in her jacket during a short break earlier today, but that would not carry her much longer. At least she had made good progress on her apartment today.

She had started on her bedroom. Figuring that she wanted to avoid sleeping in a bare and unmade bed again, she put fresh linen on and then began to push and pull her furnishings from one place to the next, contemplating what setup would be the best fit and would look nice. Some back and forth later, she had decided on one and began unpacking the boxes with clothes that were not blocked by the myriad of other cartons. Curtains and lamps were next.

The whole procedure had taken a surprising amount of time, and figuring the task would be more straightforward, she had switched her attention to the kitchen. She had just finished stocking the cabinet with pans and pots when her hunger became annoying enough to do something about it. Unfortunately she had nothing in the house, so that meant either grocery shopping or eating out.

Not wanting to sit alone in a restaurant she decided on cooking for herself. She would have to get groceries soon anyway and it would be a good way to get a feeling for the area. Having quickly changed and looked up the way to the nearest supermarket, Ava remembered Hermione's plea and fastened her wand holster to her forearm. She was sure she wouldn't need it, but it would ease her guilty conscience for leaving her friends in Britain behind. At least a little.

Since barely anyone knew where she was, it was highly unlikely that she would have to defend herself against a magical threat here in the States, and more than nine years in the Auror Department and her training regimen made her confident in her abilities to defend herself against mundane attackers. Most of the opponents she had faced that had tried, had scoffed at her small size and her deceptively slim frame and thought that they could simply overpower her. A few of them had even had the opportunity to revise that opinion.

Unlike most Auror recruits that went through their training who believed their wand was the only weapon they could ever need, Ava had requested that elements of muggle police training be incorporated into her drill instructions. So Ava had received training in hand-to-hand combat, how to wield and defend against both blunt and sharp weapons and also how to handle and shoot firearms. She was also schooled in muggle police procedures.

Beside the resulting bruises that came from the demanding training, she had received general incomprehension and disapproving looks for that decision, but it had proven an invaluable extension to her repertoire and she had taken to never leaving her house without a knife in her boot and carrying a concealed gun. More than one attacker had thought her helpless when he had managed to separate her from her wand and went in for the kill, only to find themself facing a still formidable enemy. The surprise alone made sure that the rest of the fight was usually one-sided and quickly finished. The additional training had also allowed her to easily blend in with the muggle authorities and pose as one of them, should it prove necessary.

Bracing herself to not waste anymore time, she made sure her weapons were in place, signalled Wookie to follow her for a walk and left the building hunting for food.

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Laundry was without a doubt one of Pennys least favorite chores of all time, so it was no wonder that she was grumpy while she moved through her bedroom to throw each piece of white cloth into the basket she was carrying upon her hip. She had indulged in a bit of laziness for a while but now found herself in the situation that she had to wear her last clean jeans-and-sweater-combo. So she either had to pick herself up to get some housework done or risk looking like a slob. Or go to buy new clothes, but her financial status unfortunately did not make that an option. It had been a close call but in the end her sense of propriety had won out.

Also, it wasn't like she had anything better to do today. She had the weekend off from work and with absolutely nothing to do she was bored out of her brain. Without anything better to do, she had taken to just go and hang out at the guys. They usually had their attention on some kind of project or so and while it rarely was something that got her excited, their permanent squabbling was often entertainment enough. Alas, they had some kind of thing that required them to spend the day and evening at the university today.

Absentmindedly, she wondered when she had gotten so dependent on the guys that her first thought had become to go across the hall into their apartment, as soon as she had no other matters to attend to. It had been less than half a year since she moved in and basically from the get-go, she had been sucked into their orbit. Of course she had also made a few other friends. She was friendly with most of the people at the Cheesecake Factory and there were two girls that she kept in contact with that went to the same acting classes she did. But with none of them she spent the same amount of time. Of the people that she had hung out with, before she had to break it off with Kurt, she hadn't kept in contact with a single one.

Banishing that thought for later, she gathered up her things and quickly descended the stairs into the laundry room, to get this nasty chore behind her. If at least the elevator would work, she wouldn't have to take the stairs all the time. Well, it couldn't be helped.

When she had finished her laundry and therefore having put this annoyance behind her for the moment, Penny climbed the stairs into the lobby in a decidedly better mood than earlier. Rounding the corner and spotting the entrance, she halted her step for a moment to take in the woman who had just arrived at the door to the building.

The first thing she noticed was that the woman was short, like barely scratching the 5 feet mark short. She had jet-black hair that she wore in a messy pixie cut, framing a delicate face with a button nose and bright green eyes. She was dressed in form fitting jeans and a short black jacket over a simple white button-down blouse, her outfit revealing a somewhat boyish, but lean and athletic stature. If she had to voice her first impression, Penny would have gone with 'cute'. Even though she wasn't a classic beauty, the woman was pretty in an effortless way that no elaborate makeup or elegant clothing could mimic. She was still young, but the faint lines in her face indicated that she was probably a few years older than Penny herself.

Next to her she could see a thigh-high pile of shaggy dark hair that couldn't decide if it was more brown or black. The dog would look a little intimidating by its sheer size, but the trusting big brown eyes and the excited open-mouthed panting, gave the impression of a cuddly teddy bear.

Seeing that the woman was struggling to open the door with two heavy looking shopping bags in her hands, Penny quickly closed the distance and opened the door for her. She was greeted with a slightly surprised look that formed into a tentative smile.

"Oh, thank you. I appreciate that." The stranger said in a hesitant voice that carried a distinct British accent.

"You're welcome, come in. Are you visiting someone?" Penny asked. It wasn't really any of her business, but the day was boring and she was curious, sue her. The woman quickly crossed the threshold, the dog hot on her heels. Penny and the dog both eyed each other appraisingly for a moment, before she extended a hand for it to be sniffed. She gave a startled 'Eep!' when instead of the expected sniff, the dog decided to lick her hand enthusiastically.

"Sorry about that, she's usually more shy towards strangers." The woman gave an apologetic smile. "But no, I live here. Just moved in yesterday in fact." She seemed to hesitate for a second. "You are actually the first resident I'm meeting. My name is A...erh, Renée."

"Really? That's so cool!" Penny exclaimed excitedly. Except herself and the guys, all the other tenants in the house were just some old people. Another girl that was so much closer to her own age certainly couldn't be a bad thing. "Welcome to the house! I am Penny, I live in 4B."

"Thank you Penny." Her smile seemed to be a little more open this time.

Taking her first step onto the stairwell, Penny gestured towards one of the bags. "You want me to take one of those? They look kinda heavy."

"What? Oh, no you don't have to…"

"It's no big deal, I can just, urff!" Penny had just taken hold of a bag and hadn't expected it to be quite this heavy. Disbalanced by her load she nearly slipped from the step, but one of Renée's arms shot out and grabbed her arm with startling strength. "Oh wow, erh, thanks." Penny murmured embarrassed.

"I can take…" She gestured to the bag in Pennys hand.

"It's alright, I got this. Sorry, that was embarrassing." Penny reaffirmed her grip on the handle and slung the other hand under the bag for a better support. "Damn, this feels like you have bricks in here." She gave her bag a quick shake for emphasis.

"Oh, erh... I had absolutely nothing in the house after the move you know, so I kind of went on a shopping spree." Renée's cheeks took on a faint pink hue. "I guess it's true what they say, never go shopping while you're hungry."

"Yeah, I know that problem." Penny let out a low chuckle. "So anyway, you said you just moved in? Where did you come from? Straight from England?"

"Yes, that's right." Renée seemed to give her an cautious look, as if she was appraising her. "How did you know?"

"Your accent."

"Oh." Now she looked sheepish. "Is it that bad? I didn't realise…"

"No no, it's not bad at all." Penny was quick to assure her before she could stutter on. "I mean yeah, it's noticeable. But the accent is cool, you know. Not many Brits around here, that's all."

"Oh." She repeated, apparently at a loss of what to say to that. "Erm anyway, this is my door. Thank you for your help. I guess we'll see each other around?"

"Yes of course, uh say, Renée?" Penny hesitated, unsure if she should say something. Renée was nice and Penny kind of liked her, but the other woman was clearly a little on guard around her which was fair enough. After all, she was virtually a stranger that she had run into in the hallway.

"Yes?" The Brit prompted, so Penny decided to just go for it.

"Would you like to get together sometime? I often hang out with the guys that live across the hall from me, but I'm kind of the only girl there. Don't get me wrong, they're good people but I could use some girl time sometimes, you know."

"Oh." Came Renées answer again, and she visibly cringed at her lack of eloquence. Whatever Renée seemed to have expected, that was not it, going by the look of open astonishment on her face. She looked to the side at her apartment door and seemed to come to a decision.

"You know what, let's do that." Penny received the first real smile from her new neighbor. It suited her much better than the polite half smile from before. "Actually, erm, I was going to cook something. Would you like to join me?"

"Really? I'd love to!" Penny was kind of excited about the invitation. Not least because she barely had anything to eat in her own place. Since she had fallen in with the boys, she so often ate at their place that she had gotten into the bad habit of only stocking some essentials, if even that. "Are you sure that's ok though, I mean, you're only just settling in aren't you?"

"Don't worry about that, it's fine. Well," Renée began to stammer. "That is, if you don't mind the mess. There are still moving boxes everywhere and I don't have a dining table yet and, oh bugger, I don't even have chairs and…"

"Relax, it's perfectly fine." Penny chuckled. "How about this, instead? You just come up to my place and we can use my kitchen. Or you can, I'm a terrible cook, really. That way we don't have to eat from one of the moving boxes. I think I still have a bottle of wine that we can open."

"Are you sure? I really don't want to intrude." She began to shift nervously.

"Nah, you're not. As long as you don't mind my own mess, we're good." The blonde said with a smirk. "Been kind of lazy lately." She added a little abashed, by way of an explanation.

"Not at all." Renée shrugged. "I have to put these away first though." She said with a glance at her full shopping bags.

"Sure, you do that and I'll go ahead. That way I can put away some of the worst stuff that's lying around. When you're ready just come up, yeah? It's up the stairs and to the right."

When the black-haired woman nodded her consent, Penny started to climb the last flight of stairs, turning around when she remembered something and yelled "Oh, and you can go ahead and bring the dog if you want." Then she hurried up the stairs, she should at least throw the pizza cartons into her bedroom or something.

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Mentally checking if she really had everything she'd need, Ava - no that's wrong, it was Renée now - was standing in the hallway in front of apartment 4B. She was feeling decidedly nervous and apprehensive about spending time with the other woman and couldn't help worrying her bottom lip.

She had left Great Britain and her friends behind because she could no longer stomach them treating her like she was made of glass and could shatter at a moments notice. Not that their fear was unfounded, mind you. After the terrible debacle that had been kicked off last Halloween, she had been a mess. Still was, if she was being honest with herself, even if the worst seemed to be over by now. She felt wretched and for weeks afterwards couldn't help to burst into tears at a moments notice. She had developed a crippling fear of the dark and her ever present aversion to being touched by anyone but her closest friends, had become so bad that she regularly flinched at any unexpected - and way too often at expected - contact.

Her friends had taken up the self-appointed challenge of taking care of Ava, and soon she could barely so much as cough without setting one of her babysitters into hovering-mode. Not that she didn't appreciate their help and attention, it meant a lot to her, more than she could ever possibly articulate. It was just that Ava had always been uncomfortable with this kind of positive attention because she didn't know what to do with that. When she had said as much, it had set Hermione off on one of her These-Terrible-Dursleys-Are-Monsters!-How-Could-They-Treat-A-Child-Like-This-Oh-If-I-Ever-Get-My-Hands-On-Them-I-Tear-Them-A-New-One-And-Don't-Even-Say-That-It-Wasn't-So-Bad-Ava!-It-Was-And-It-Is-Unacceptable-And-It-Is-Nothing-Short-Of-A-Miracle-That-You-Became-Such-A-Wonderful-Person-Rants. Appropriately cowed, she had ceased complaining and endured the Avasitting.

Eventually the hovering had winded down a bit, when - with the help of a muggle counselor, that Hermione had finally convinced her to see - Ava had slowly regained a semblance of control over herself. In the course of her therapy, Ava had come to a few decisions on how she wanted to continue with her life. She had known for a long time that she did not really want to be an Auror. She was good at it, sure - very good in fact - and that was one of the reasons why she had pursued this career. It gave her a goal. It gave her the opportunity to hunt the Death Eaters, the very people that were responsible for her own pain and the pain of her loved ones. And with every fugitive Death Eater that she had stopped, she came closer to her own personal closure. She had dedicated the last decade of her life to that venture, but it had never been something to give her peace. It was time for her to pursue that peace instead.

She did not really have an idea how to do that, but she did know that she would not find it while every time she looked at her closest friends, she saw them look at her with sympathy. It reminded her of what she had lost and her guilt and pain would resurface anew. So Ava had made a decision. She might not know how to find her peace, but until she did, she would dedicate her time to something that she had indulged in far too rarely: a hobby. And she would go somewhere where she'd have the breathing room to do it without constant scrutiny. So, she had prepared and planned and then finally arrived here, in Pasadena, California. It seemed perfect for her needs. No one here knew who she was, even if she would venture into the wizarding districts - which she had absolutely no intention to do - it was unlikely that anyone would recognize her in passing. Wizarding transportation made it possible for her to quickly return to Britain in case she became homesick or simply wanted to see her loved ones. Also she would not even need to familiarize herself with another language, even though she somehow had not realized that her accent would set her apart.

That was how the Brit had found herself in this newest dilemma. She had fled the Isles because she wanted to gain a little distance and breathing room, and now that she stood in front of Penny's apartment door - a woman who was basically a complete stranger to her - she felt guilty as if she had in some way betrayed her friendship to those she had left behind in Britain. It was ridiculous. If she were here, Hermione would scold her for being so melodramatic. Or laugh herself silly about the absurdity, it was a toss really. With a huff she gathered her courage and knocked on the door.

"Coming!" came the instant reply, and two heartbeats later Penny's face appeared in the door crack. "That was fast, come in." she said and stepped to the side to let Ava and her wagtailing shadow into the residence. "Please ignore the clutter here, yeah? I had not enough time to tidy up."

Stepping over the threshold, Ava let her gaze quickly wander through the room, taking in details with a practiced eye. The apartment seemed to be smaller than her own by a margin. While it had an open floor plan like hers, the living room had maybe about half the floor area. She could make out a closed door that probably led to an adjoining bedroom, and since she saw no other door that indicated a bathroom, it was likely connected to the sleeping area. The furniture was a veritable explosion of mismatched styles and bright colours that would not be out of place in Luna's home. Renée approved.

There were pieces of discarded clothing spread throughout the apartment and she could see a pile of unwashed dishes in the sink. The place was indeed in a bit of disorder but it was manageable. "Don't worry about that. I lived in a dorm with a couple of other teenagers for several years. Believe me when I say that I've seen worse."

Compared with the amount of clothing that Lavender and Parvati were able to spread around, this was indeed relatively tame. Ava always suspected that the House Elves of Hogwarts were under strict instructions not to clean up the living spaces of the students in order to teach them self-reliance and independence and all that. It must have been torture for the poor buggers witnessing the battlefield that was the girls dorm and not being allowed to do anything about it.

Renée made her way into the kitchenette and put her bag down, studiously avoiding to look at the sofa where something that looked suspiciously like black lace was wedged into the corner. "So, I didn't feel like making anything fancy today. I hope you like pasta?"

"Yes! Of course. You know, it's been forever that I had a home cooked meal, so I'm basically on board with anything you want to make. Since I came here, I am basically living off takeout."

"Huh," Renée replied, bemused. "Well, let's shake that up a bit. How about you set up a pot to boil some water and I begin preparations? Do you have a cutting board and a sharp knife here somewhere?"

"Sure, in the cupboard to your left." Penny pointed to the door in question. "But, erm, maybe I can help you preparing instead? I'd rather keep away from the stove." She made an uncomfortable grimace.

"Are you saying … you don't know how to boil water?"

"Once my mom wanted to show me how to cook spaghetti. I set them on fire." came the deadpan answer.

There was a dumbfounded silence. Then Renée began to snicker slightly and a moment later Penny fell in, both descending into slightly hysterical laughter.

"Oh, wow." She said a little out of breath, while she brushed a tear out of her eye. "You weren't kidding when you said you were a terrible cook, huh? OK, I'll keep you away from anything that can catch fire then."

"Wise move." Penny said with a nod. "Now, what needs to be cut? I can do that at least."

"Right." Renée snorted amused. "In my bag you'll find carrots, those need to be sliced. Than take a chunk of the salami and some mushrooms, those diced please. I'll set up the pot and then take care of the onion and the tomatoes." She reached for the pot on the drip tray and hesitated. "Erm, I haven't asked. Is meat alright? We could substitute with some more of the mushrooms if you'd rather have no meat in it."

"No, no. That's alright. I tried to go vegetarian but that was kind of a failed attempt, so I settled for 'only sometimes meat'." The blonde gave a little self deprecating smile. "Turns out, I can't go without the occasional steak."

"Who could, really."

"True."

Opening the promised bottle of wine, the two women set to work while Wookie bustled around their feet, hoping to catch some dropped morsels. Penny kept up a steady chatter, talking about this and that and between the blonde's easygoing nature and the influence of the alcohol, Renée could feel herself letting go of her guilty conscience a little. Penny told her about how she had come to California with the ambition to become an actress and how she was working as a waitress while trying to get a shoe into the business. She also recounted how she had moved into her new apartment, after her boyfriend turned out to be a jerk and and how he still kept trying to get her back by impressing her. Renée snorted when she told her how he had turned up at her Halloween Party 'dressed' as a caveman to show off his muscles.

"Seriously? He sounds like a git. I hope you turned him away."

"Yeah I did, just a shame it took me so long to realize this."

Renée all the while had her attention split between Penny's chatter and her cooking. Having made it countless times before, she was familiar enough with the recipe to follow it on autopilot. First frying the onion slivers, then adding the salami and champignon dices. A moment later came the tomatoes to make an actual sauce and at the end she added the carrots. Let it simmer, taste and add seasoning. Repeat as necessary. Seeing as she was nearly finished she had already thrown the spaghetti into the boiling water and all that was left, was waiting until those were ready.

Wiping her hands, Renée gave a small smile and said "There. We're nearly done, give it another two or three minutes for the spaghetti and we can eat. Can you get the plates?"

Penny, who had been leaning against the work surface of her kitchen and watched Renée working with wide eyes, hastily straightened herself. "Yeah, coming right up. You know, you're really good at this." the blonde said, as she sidestepped the begging dog to reach the correct shelf.

"Thank you, but it's mostly just practice. It helps that I enjoy cooking. Haven't had a chance to do that in a while, though." she said, accepting the offered plates and began to fill them when the pasta was done.

"Still, that looked really professional. Every time I see people cooking, it's usually a terrible mess."

Carrying their plates over to the small dining table on the wall, Renée saw Penny discretely snatch up a bra that had been lying on the upholstery of one of the chairs to drop it onto another pile of clothing, where it would be less noticeable. Seeing that her dog had followed the movement as well, she quickly spoke up "Oh erm, you might not want to do that. Wookie has a bad habit of chewing on bras. Maybe throw it into your bedroom or something?" She could feel the embarrassment colour her cheeks.

"You're kidding me, right?" The blonde countered incredulously. "Your dog chews on your bras? What the hell?"

Renée raised a hand to scratch her neck, abashed. "She's terribly stubborn, I swear it's like she's punishing me sometimes. Like when I leave her alone too long or something, she goes ahead and steals something. Food that's been lying around or my clothes, whatever. For some reasons she always goes for the bras. I can't find a way to break that habit." She palmed her face in an attempt to hide her blush. "Don't laugh about that!" she sputtered indignant when Penny broke down cackling. "Have you any idea how many I had to throw out because they were torn or because the fastener was chewed up? I swear that one sales lady looks at me like she thinks I'm some kind of deviant, by how often I turn up there."

That cracked Penny up even more. Renée pouted.

It took a while for Penny to get her bearings again. "Oh boy, that's hilarious." she gasped, grinning.

"Yeah, yeah, laugh at me. See if I cook for you again."

"Aw, don't sulk! Lingerie is made to be drooled over. Most women just don't take that quite so literal." the blonde threw over her shoulder while she quickly gathered her clothes to put them on her bed.

Mature and dignified person that Renée was, she stuck out her tongue.

Still grinning, Penny gestured to the dining table with the steaming plates. "Should we go eat then?"

They sat down at the table, refilled their glasses and their conversation was on hold while both of them were digging in. Finally, scraping the last pieces off her plate, Penny let out a satisfied sigh. "That was awesome. Thank you so much for cooking, I haven't eaten that good in forever. You know you could make some good money with that." she added in jest.

To her surprise her last remark prompted an amused grin from the Brit. "As it happens, that's the plan."

"Wait, what? Really? You're looking to be hired as a chef? That's so cool, you need to tell me where you end up, so I can drop by and mooch off you."

"Not quite. Actually, I'm going to open my own restaurant." Seeing Penny's wide eyes at her statement, she continued to explain. "Before I moved here, I got in contact with an agent over in LA. I hired him and he has been scouring the real estate here in Pasadena. He found a vacant premise a few streets over, that's why I moved here, because it was so close by. I haven't seen it yet though, only on photos. Who knows, depending on how smooth everything goes, I might be able to open in a month or two."

"Damn girl, you don't do things by halves, huh? Isn't that a huge risk, though? I mean that can't be cheap. Did you work in a restaurant before?"

Renée chuckled a little at Penny's incredulous face. "Well, it's not cheap, that's true, so sure it's a risk. As long as I don't bollocks things up completely, though, I'm pretty confident I can do it." Actually from a purely financial point of view, Renée had little to worry about. She had taken the necessary funds out of the Potter vaults in Gringotts, and while her family was no longer one of the so-called 'sacred twenty-eight', a name that the old British wizarding families had given themselves, the Potters regardlessly had a very old and prestigious heritage, as well as the wealth that usually came with that. While she could not compete with most of the other ancient houses in regards to pure monetary value, she could afford to live an extravagant life without worrying about money. So, if the worst should happen and her endeavour fail, the most that would happen was a scolding from her goblin account manager to be more careful with the gold she had entrusted them with. Of course none of that was something she could disclose to Penny, without inviting a whole host of questions she'd rather not answer. So she remained silent.

"Huh. Well, I hope you make it. You certainly have the cooking down."

"Thank you!" she gave Penny a smile. It always felt much better to be complimented for things that she actually did well, instead of some glorified image that people create for themselves through inaccurate newspapers and badly written fiction.

"Did you though? Work in a restaurant before, I mean."

"Oh, erh, no. Never." A little embarrassed she scratched her neck. "In fact, I have worked in Law Enforcement."

"Law Enforcement? You're a policewoman?"

"Mhm." Renée hummed agreeingly. "I worked in SOCA, I guess you could say it is the British equivalent of your FBI." Renée had specifically chosen the SOCA as her muggle-cover while she still worked in the Auror Department for their similar range of responsibilities in identifying, investigating and apprehending potential highly dangerous targets. If you changed the Aurors domain of anything involving the Dark Arts for the SOCA's organized crime, you would not be too far off the mark in saying that they were basically the same thing. In fact if she would show her badge to a muggle, it would identify her as Assistant Chief Constable Potter, along with the Agency's emblem. Since she very much disliked the use of memory charms that some of her Co-Aurors were so fond of, it had come in very handy lots of times.

"Wow. Don't you have to be, like, really good for that?"

"Well, erh, it is pretty demanding." she replied a little bashful.

"No kidding." Penny grinned at her teasingly. "I guess you should never judge someone by their appearance. You are so small, but in that line of work you probably pack a punch, huh?"

"You're not wrong. But don't tell anyone, to be underestimated is pretty much the best thing that can happen to you when you are at risk of running into trouble." The Brit answered her new neighbor with a wry grin.

"My lips are sealed." The blonde made a zipping motion over her mouth. "But you have to tell me, how do you go from catching baddies to opening a restaurant. Did you quit or something?"

"Hmm, no." Renée considered her answer carefully. "No, I did not quit. There was ... well, I guess my point is that in this kind of job you can get hurt. And I got. Hurt, I mean." She fidgeted uncomfortably.

"Were you shot or something?"

"Or something, yes." She winced, when her reply came out sharper then she had intended. "Sorry, I'm not mad at you, it's still a sore point and pretty personal." She saw Penny's eyebrows rise at her declaration but she nodded her understanding. "Anyway, erh, it took a while but I am better now. I don't think I can go on as I have before though, so I came here to build something that I enjoy and lets me get my bearings back. I have always loved cooking, so the idea to do that professionally came naturally. Luckily I have some influence and so I could convince my boss to put me into the reserve so that I could move here."

"Damn, I'm sorry. You know, for bringing that up. And for whatever happened to you. Sounds like it was bad."

"Yeah..."

"But wouldn't it be better to just quit properly instead of doing this reserve thingy? Whatever that is."

"Politics." Renée shrugged half heartedly as if that explained everything. Which it did, not that Penny had any insight into the workings of the Ministry of Magic. "It was the easiest solution for all parties involved. I got what I wanted and could leave to do my thing, and they can still call onto me, should there be some kind of crisis." Seeing that Penny still looked at her with incomprehension, she continued to explain. "I am important for the department for a number of reasons and my leaving completely would have created quite a stir. I am well connected in the departments of several countries and I specialise in aspects that are hard to come by because barely anyone has the required clearance."

After the war, specifically after the affair that involved Riddle's Horcruxes, Ava resolved to be better prepared should the need ever arise again. There were quite a few issues that could be raised with Dumbledores particular style of leadership, but if it had not been for him, Ava would never have found out about the objects that Tom Riddle had used to anchor himself to this plane of existence. Even if they - against all odds - would have managed to 'kill' him a second time, it would have bought them nothing but a brief respite, before he invariably returned. Yet again. The first and the second Wizarding War had been disastrous upon the British wizarding society. A third might just have been fatal. This was just another reminder of a lesson she had witnessed repeatedly: That knowledge and information were invaluable and indispensable. And far too often shortsightedly discarded.

So, she had set out to learn all that she safely could about the more unsavoury, esoteric and obscure aspects of magic. She studied what she could find about the magic behind parsel, about the power that resided in blood and the human soul and how they could be applied. She learned about the different kinds of ritualistic magic and even a bit of necromancy and several other arcane arts. It was difficult to find materials that provided what she sought but her own popularity and the ministers approval and support opened her a lot of doors. She had the chance to learn from scholars and even a few of the more trustworthy practitioners of obscure magics from around the world and became an often seen guest in the Department of Mysteries, where she consulted with the Unspeakables. The most expansive compilation of source materials was collected from the confiscated assets that came out of the possession of Voldemort's more notorious supporters like the Lestranges, Malfoys and Notts.

Aware that such a collection of Dark Arts inspired desires she had worked with the Unspeakables to secure them from unwanted access with multi-leveled failsafes. Only those with the approval of Britain's Minister of Magic and two foreign representatives of the International Confederation would be able to enter the newly erected archive and they further took a page out of Dumbledore's book and used the Mirror of Erised as a gatekeeper to only admit those who would never want to employ the powers that they had secured. Currently the Unspeakables were developing a runebased and modified variant of the Fidelius charm that would work without an explicit secret keeper to prevent the information from being further distributed due to extortion, careless word of mouth or invasion via legilimency.

Her studies and the heavily restricted nature of the information quickly made Ava one of the foremost specialists for the identification and defense against the Dark Arts through all of Europe. While the occurences where her in-depth-knowledge was required were thankfully very rare, it had happened several times that foreign wizarding nations had asked for her assistance, when their own Aurors had hit a dead end in their investigations. Minister Shacklebolt was all too happy to use these opportunities to make an effort to repair Britain's foreign relations after years of negligence and outright sabotage and assigned her as a consult.

Her leaving the Auror Corps completely, would have put both her and the British Ministry in a difficult situation, because the Ministry was understandably hesitant to have this kind of know-how in the hands of a civilian. Due to her credentials and popularity she might have successfully forced the issue, but it was generally wise to let sleeping dogs lie. So they had struck a deal. Ava would remain as a member of the Auror Corps but was relieved from active duty and would remain as a reserve member, that would only be reactivated if shit really hit the fan. Any requests for consults had to be approved by both her and Minister Shacklebolt.

None of that was something she could explain to Penny, but the little that she had said had already prompted her new neighbor to look at her with wide eyes. "I feel like I am repeating myself here, but damn girl! Sounds like you are a big shot."

Not feeling like delving even deeper into the topic, Renée settled for a noncommittal shrug. Penny apparently had understood and both descended into silence.

A moment passed, and then the blonde spoke up again. "Soooo … Wookie, huh? Nerd much?"

Renée snorted at the 180° turn and smiled, thankful for the change in topic.

"What? It suits her. She looks like a Wookie. Except cute."

Understanding that she was talked about, the dog in question quickly rose from her place to her mistresses feet and settled in her tried and tested begging stance. Hunched shoulders, hanging ears, body pathetically crouched into herself and wide, hopeful eyes glued to Renées leftovers.

Reaching out, Renée put her hand on Wookies head and tousled her hair. "Ugh, no you don't get anything from my plate, you big shaggy suck-up."

"Aw, how can you say no to that face, she looks like a big, fluffy Teddy Bear." Penny cooed.

"Yes, and she knows it. Don't let her get to you or you're gonna go hungry yourself."

"I'll remember that. Sorry Wookie, your mommy is mean and says you're not allowed to get our food." The blonde snickered at the animal, she never knew dogs could look so betrayed. "Hey Renée, if you like this Star Wars stuff, I should probably introduce you to the guys across the hall."

"Oh?"

"I kind of started to hang out with them when I moved in here. To be honest, half of the time I don't know what they are even talking about, but that's ok. It's still fun, at least as long as Sheldon isn't throwing a tantrum about something." Obviously having something specific in mind, Penny started to giggle.

"Well, I'm not exactly the biggest fan ever or anything, but erh, sure I guess I can meet them." Renée said, surprising herself a little with her easy acquiesce. It might be the wine talking, but against her expectation the evening with Penny was actually a lot of fun. The girl was easygoing and likeable, surely her friends couldn't be half as bad. "Why are you laughing, though?"

"Oh, it's nothing, I'm just kind of looking forward to this. The guys are a little socially awkward you know, and Sheldon is basically a manchild. He is either going to be over the moon because you called your dog 'Wookie' or he is going to freak out because there is a dog in the house." If anything her grin grew even wider.

"Erm, Penny, maybe then this might not be such a good idea..."

"Oh, relax, he is not malicious or anything but he kind of lives in his own world. An occasional dose of reality won't hurt him. He is a little standoffish but he grows on you. The big baby."

"I'm not sure…"

"Don't worry yourself. If he goes overboard I'm gonna take him to task."

"Erm, right. Beware the manchild. Got it. You said there are more?" Renée shifted nervously.

"Yeah, Sheldon and Leonard are living across the hall, but Raj and Howard are over so often that they could be living there and you wouldn't really notice a difference."

"Mhm, what are they like?"

"Well, let's see. They work over at Caltech, that's the university here. They are all, like, really smart geniuses and each is some kind of scientist, but awkward as hell when they actually have to talk to people. It's hilarious." She smiled and paused a moment, before she continued. "Sheldon and Leonard are roommates. Leonard is an experimental physicist and is as good-natured as they come. The only time I have seen him lose his temper is when Sheldon annoys him with his antics. He is also really nervous about talking to people, and then he starts to stammer and babble. It's kind of cute."

Renée thought that Penny's demeanor softened a little when she talked about Leonard. Maybe she liked him. If the feeling was reciprocated, it might also explain Leonards apparent tendency to stammer around her. If it was, Penny didn't seem to be aware of that though, and Renée wisely chose to say nothing on the matter.

"Then there is also Raj. He moved here from India to work as an astrophysicist. Erm, to be honest I can't really tell you much about him because I can't talk to him."

"Huh? He doesn't speak English? Isn't that a little difficult, you know, if he's working here and all?"

"Oh no, he speaks it just fine. It's that he can't talk to women."

"Err, …"

"It's true." Penny snickered. "As soon as I enter the room he clams up and is all tongue tied."

"Is that some religious thing? You know, this 'women should be seen, not heard'-nonsense?"

"No, no, at least I don't think so. It's more of a shyness-thing, like some kind of disorder or something." She shrugged.

"I never heard of something like this. Is that common?"

"I didn't either, so I guess that it's not."

"Huh. Weird."

"Yeah. Well anyways, the last one is Howard, he is an engineer. He is constantly hitting on me, god it's the worst. It's like he thinks of himself as this suave and irresistible womanizer and then comes on to you with the worst pick up lines that you have ever heard. And then he has the weirdest relationship with Raj. I swear those two bicker like they are an old married couple."

"Are they together or something?"

"Nah, just friends. But I swear, I would not be surprised if one day they just go ahead and elope." Penny said with a chuckle. "Hey, what are you doing tomorrow? Maybe we can all get together?"

"Err well, for the time being I don't really have a schedule. I guess I'll spend some time with unpacking and arranging all the stuff in my flat. Everything is still scattered around, you know. Also I barely have any furniture, so I might do some shopping. I only got the bare essentials and I've seen that the IKEA opens on Sunday."

"Want some company? Maybe afterwards we can meet with the guys and eat dinner, they're probably meeting anyway to play games or something."

"Are you sure? You probably have things to do."

"I have the whole weekend off and it's so boooring! Also I love shopping, you'd be doing me a favour."

"Right. Sure. Why not. Just come down when you're up and we can go."

"Alrighty! ...more wine?"

####################

Two hours and a second bottle of wine later, the two girls called it a night and Renée tipsily descended the stairs to return to her own home, a grumpy and hungry Wookie by her side. When she had invited Penny to dinner it had been a spur of the moment thing, because the blonde she had met in the hallway seemed like pleasant company. The words had barely left her mouth when she could have slapped herself. She was in America to get away from people, why the hell had she just invited a virtual stranger?

Her momentary lapse in judgement had luckily worked out, and she had genuinely enjoyed her time with Penny. They had eaten together and the provided alcohol had helped Renée over the initial awkwardness until she had relaxed in the others presence. They had chatted through the evening and thankfully her new friend had provided the lion's share of the talking. Whether that was because Penny had seen that Renée was a little uncomfortable with talking about herself, or if she was just talkative by nature, remained to be seen.

Penny had spoken about this and that, leading the conversation and not leaving much space for awkward silences. About how she came to LA hoping to find a place as an actress, her work in this Cheesecake Factory place, that seemed to be somewhat popular, or a few tales about her childhood in Nebraska. But most of her stories were centered around 'the guys', as she had taken to call them.

And then Renée had - in another moment of temporary insanity - agreed to meet them. What the hell was wrong with her. No, better not answer that, actually. Her meeting with Penny had gone so well that she had become careless and opened up. This just begged for a disaster. Her life was reliable that way. Oh, probably not the 'let's-hunt-a thousand-years-old-monster' or 'we-need-to-break-into-a-high-security-bank' kind of trouble, but she just knew that somehow this would come back to bite her.

She wished she could just get her hands on a time turner and make the last few months unhappen, so she could go back to the life that she had spent so long to build herself. When she still had been ignorant of her future and just enjoyed the closeness to her friends and pseudo-families. She could play with Teddy again and hold little Rosie. Or lounge about in the various Weasley households, spending her free time flying and enjoying Molly's cooking and Arthur's unbroken enthusiasm for all the different contraptions he could take apart and fail to put back together. She missed just sitting on the patio of Longbottom Manor with Mia, simply reading and talking, while they watched Neville tinkering in his greenhouses. Renée wanted to spend another evening with Hermione and her parents watching movies and waiting for the inevitable fierce discussion whether Star Wars or Star Trek was the better Science Fiction. The correct answer, by the way, was clearly Star Wars. For sentimental reasons, she was unashamed to admit, but still. Maybe she could even meet up again with George and Angelina and they could … ah, no, better not go there.

But even if going back would have been a viable option, her memories would stay with her and it wouldn't be the same. Her therapist had put her problems into more technical terms. Posttraumatic stress disorder, unresolved loss and grief and a couple of other ridiculously long words that were less clear to her. And even though she had resisted at first, in retrospect she had to admit that he had actually been helpful. It had taken many grueling sessions, but eventually Renée had broken out of her crippling stupor and, for lack of a better expression, rejoined the land of the living.

She was not ok, of course, but she also no longer felt quite so helpless and suffocated. That was when she had decided to gain a little distance and find a place where she could find her equilibrium again. Her decision had not found much favour, her friends clearly fearing that she would run away to hide herself away from the world. Which was a fair concern, and she would be lying if she said she wasn't still struggling to avoid doing exactly that. But she had promised them. She had promised she would keep in contact and would visit them regularly. And also that she would not stay away from people and be lonely. Right now, she was cursing herself for that last one, especially. At least she could tell them all 'I told you so' when this would all inevitably blow up in her face.


	2. Chapter 2 - A Brave New World

AN

As you can see, I was not kidding, when I said that I am a terribly slow writer. You can probably expect another 1,5 months of writing time for any subsequent chapters as well. And at least.

Before I let you go ahead to read, a few short annotations for those who like to read them.

The mentioned Dr. Thomas Pohl is a real person who is indeed sciencing away on a related topic. So, Mr. Pohl, if you by chance landed here after googling your name: surprise. I hope you don't mind. :)

Also the MACUSA Surveillance Wizarding Resources Department is a canon department, taken from the Fantastic Beasts film, if I remember correctly. The Taskforce for the gradual Abolition of the Statute of Secrecy on the other hand is my own invention, further details might be forthcoming in later chapters.

I guess that is everything, so please go ahead. I hope you enjoy it. Again, if you'd let me know what you think I'd be very happy.

/AN

 **Chapter 2 - A Brave New Word**

 _MINISTRY CONFIRMS - POTTER MISSING!_

 _by Lavender Thomas for the Daily Prophet, November 2nd, 2007_

 _In yesterday's press conference Minister Shacklebolt has confirmed the rumours, and declared that Ava Renée Potter is now officially missing in action. The Aurors Potter and Finnegan had responded to a late night emergency call on All Hallows' Eve, that lead them to Godric's Hollow. The evidence suggests that upon arrival they were ambushed by a prepared group of hostile combatants._

 _Auror Weasley, who is leading the investigation, reported that Auror Finnegan regrettably has not survived the encounter. Likewise, two of the attackers could only be salvaged and declared deceased. They were identified as outspoken sympathizers of the 'Pureblood Supremacy' ideology. The third attacker is currently held in St. Mungo's Hospital where he is treated for the various injuries he had suffered in the fighting. Healer Abbott refused to discuss the details of his condition with the Daily Prophet, but called it critical and assured us that she is staying in permanent contact with the Auror Office._

 _A guard rotation was established while the attacker remains unconscious, so that an interrogation may proceed as soon as possible._

 _We would like to express our sympathies with Auror Finnegan's next of kin and wish them the strength to endure these trying times. Likewise we wish to extend our support to Ava Potter. We hope to welcome her safely back in our midst as soon as possible._

 _Also in this issue:_

 _Permanent vigil for Ava Potter in Godric's Hollow (by Albert Kettleburn) Pg.4_

####################

It was around 10.30 am when a shrill alarm startled Penny awake and she cursed under her breath as she fumbled bleary eyed to turn off the infernal noise. Why the hell had she set an alarm for today. It was Sunday for Christ's sake, she should be asleep for easily another 2 hours, minimum.

Right, now it came to her. She had made a date with her new neighbor to go out shopping. Ugh, why had she agreed to meet so early? Probably because she had been drunk, if her sore throat was any indication. Damn.

Well, there was nothing for it. Grumbling and highly reluctant, she untangled herself from her sheets and stumbled into her bathroom to shower away the mild hangover. Emerging twenty minutes later she already felt much better, and quickly finished the rest of her morning routine. She was feeling a little excited, it had been weeks, if not months, since she last had an outing with a friend. Sure, she had met Renée only yesterday, but the tiny Brit had been very nice, even if she remained a bit reserved. Probably because she was nervous, having just moved here from half a world away.

Regardless of any shyness on Renée's side, they had clicked well and maybe they could become friends. Penny hoped so anyways. She had a lot of fun with the guys, but she really could use someone a little more grounded in reality to counter them out. Right, that reminded her. She wanted to bring her together with the guys. Hopefully it was not too early to expose her to the general dose of craziness that tended to surround them, especially Sheldon had a particularly abrasive nature. Also, she prayed Howard would not try to hit on the Brit with his ridiculous pick-up lines ... oh god, this was going to be a disaster.

Unless the boys said that they had no time today - and let's face it, how often did they go out, barely ever - all she could do was praying they would behave themselves. She had told Renée a few of their antics, so at least she wouldn't be completely unprepared. That counted for something. Right?

She finished dressing herself in jeans and found a nice low cut top that went well with her jacket before she left her apartment and quickly bounded across the hallway. The guys were long used to her just barging into their living room. When she opened the door to let herself in, she could see Sheldon sitting on the couch in his dressing gown and Leonard working over something on his desk, already dressed for the day.

"Penny?" Leonard looked up a bit startled. "What are you doing over here, I thought you'd rather sleep in?"

"Normally yeah, but not today. I'm just about to leave and wanted pop in quickly. Have you guys known that Mrs. Gunderson has moved out? I've met the new neighbor yesterday."

She figured that she had said something wrong, when she heard Sheldon sharply sucking in a breath of air. Turning in his direction she gave him a questioning look.

"Mrs. Gunderson moved out? But she can't! How can she move out, why would she do this to me!" The lanky scientist stood up and began to move around, looking extremely agitated all of a sudden.

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Leonard interrupted him. "Sheldon, calm down. This is not the end of the world!"

Not understanding what the problem was, Penny weighed in. "Sheldon? I didn't know you were close to Mrs. Gunderson?"

"We had a wonderful relationship Penny. It was perfect! Her adherence to schedule was beyond reproach, never too early, never too late. She would leave her apartment to do her laundry or shopping at the exact same times. Always! Like clockwork."

"...okay? Go on." she prompted.

"Go on? Go on with what?"

"I mean, how did you two meet? What did you do?"

"Oh, we never met. Due to her commendable sense of punctuality, I could easily avoid her altogether. I never once was forced into senseless smalltalk or weird greetings in the hallway, it was magical." His voice had taken on an a distinct dreamy quality.

Not knowing what to say to that declaration, she shot a 'Help me out here!' look at Leonard, but he looked just as bewildered as she felt.

"Err, right. Well, I'm sure you will like the new neighbor just as much."

"You can't know that! They could be all manner of crazy people. What if they try to harvest the organs of their neighbors for drug money, huh? Or maybe they are scientists, who try to steal my work and publish it under their name." He made a garbled sound in the back of his throat. "Oh sweet Newton, what if they are of the liberal arts? Or worse: a geologist?" And just like that, Sheldon was back to his frantic fidgeting.

Leonard, who seemed to have overcome his initial astonishment, spoke up, clearly exasperated. "Relax, Sheldon. You're blowing this out of proportion. I'm sure the new neighbor will be just as nice as Mrs. Gunderson."

"Yes!" Penny quickly jumped in, trying to salvage the situation. "I assure you, no one will lose his organs. We spent the whole evening together and everything was fine. Renée used to be a police officer, you know, and even cooked a wonderful dinner. It was great. I am sure you will like each other."

"What? You, erh, you spent the evening together?" Leonard suddenly wore something like a pained expression, that she didn't know how to interpret.

"Well, yeah. Like I said, Renée had cooked." Penny said, a little puzzled. "It was delicious. I haven't eaten that well in forever!" she added with a grin.

"You know, I can cook a little, too."

"Really? All you ever eat is takeout." she said, clearly a little sceptical.

"Well. Yes. But I could. You know, I regularly made my parents dinner on my birthdays."

Penny frowned. "You made your own..."

"Excuse me! Can we please go back to the problem at hand?" Clearly perturbed that they were no longer paying attention to his personal crisis, Sheldon interrupted her impatiently.

"No Sheldon, we cannot, because there is no problem." He clearly wanted to speak up, but she continued irritated. "You're just imaging one. I am bringing Renée over this evening so you guys can all meet, and I want you to be on your best behaviour. I want this to work!" Sheldon looked indignant but Penny gave him a glare, to convey she was serious.

When she turned she gave Leonard a decidedly friendlier smile, but it faltered a little when she saw how tense he was. "When you pick up dinner for tonight, can you get an extra dish for Renée? Just whatever I usually take." When he nodded his agreement, she moved to exit the apartment. "Thank you sweetie! We're gonna go shopping for some furniture today. We'll see you this evening, text me when you're ready, ok? Now, I'm late, gotta run, see you!"

She was a little worried about Leonards behavior, but it was nearly half past eleven and she didn't want Renée to think she was stood up. Sending him an encouraging smile and a wave she made for the door and quickly went down the flight of stairs and knocked on the door to apartment 3A.

Immediately she heard bustling on the other side and then an excited clicking caused by nails on a hard floor. She could hear the animal shuffling back and forth by the door, no doubt edging her mistress on to hurry up and open the door. The door opened wide enough for Renée to peek out. "Hey Penny! Heads up, Wookie is a little wild right now." She had not finished speaking, when the dog squeezed herself past the gap between Renée's legs and the doorframe, only to barrel into Penny's legs like a psyched up toddler.

Laughing, she bent down to pet Wookie, who excitedly wagged her tail and continued to shove hard enough into her that she had to stumble back a step to not lose her balance. "Easy honey. You've just seen me yesterday."

Renée, leaning against the door and signalling Penny to come in, smirked teasingly. "Apparently Wookie has decided to adopt you."

Penny chuckled and quickly untangled herself from the bouncing furball to enter the apartment. "Yeah, looks like you're not gonna get rid of me for the foreseeable future." She had to step to the side when the dog dashed back into the living room, picked up something that looked like a cuddly blanket and began to bury her nose into it. "Awww!" Penny's heart melted a little, when she saw the big, scary beast cuddle into her security blanket.

Following Penny's look to her pet, Renée gave an amused snort. "She loves that damn blanket, had it since she was a pup. She misbehaved once, so I took it away. Put it on a shelf, out of her reach. She spent four hours lying under the shelf, constantly whining until I cracked and gave it back to her." The brit scratched her nose in what looked like amused exasperation.

Snickering at the mental image, Penny turned back to the brit and took in her appearance. Again she was dressed in a high-necked shirt, as well as the same jeans she had worn yesterday. On her forehead a faint sheen of perspiration was visible and there were signs of the same on her shirt. "You look like you're hard at work already. Sorry, did I make you wait?"

Renée waved the inquiry away with a careless gesture. "Don't worry about that, I usually rise early. Had some time to kill so I continued unpacking and moved some furniture around. I finished the bathroom and just started with the living room. Can I leave you alone, while I go shower? I don't want to leave the house like this."

"Sure, go ahead. I'll just wait here."

"Thanks. I'll be back in a moment. If you're hungry, go ahead and take something from the fridge." With that Renée vanished into the bathroom and Penny - hesitant about raiding her new neighbor's fridge - after some deliberation settled for an apple.

Penny spent the next 15 minutes lounging around on the ground, petting Wookie, while the dog gave her the sad eyes and begged her for the remains of her breakfast, until Renée returned into the living room. "Hey Renée, she wants to have my apple. Can she have it?" she gestured towards the drooling dog.

The brit nodded her agreement and when Penny offered the morsel, Wookie immediately dove forward and snatched it out of her hand. Having secured her quarry, she loudly and happily chewed away. Smiling at the adorable picture, she turned back to to her new friend and teased. "I can see you have an established style." She gestured towards Renée's fresh outfit. She was dressed in black cargo pants and, like before, had donned a new dress shirt that didn't show the slightest hint of cleavage.

"What do you mean?" Renée looked down at herself, looking self conscious.

"Relax, I mean nothing by it. Only that you always seem to wear high-necked tops. You are so fit, don't you want to show some cleavage?" She grinned playfully at Renée but it faltered when the other woman suddenly gave an extremely uncomfortable grimace. "What?"

"Errh, nothing. I'd rather not, that's all. I … are you ready to go?"

"I, erm, yeah. I am ready. What's going on?"

"I am fine. Let's go then." The brit began to walk to the exit and held the door open.

Puzzled at what had just happened, Penny left the apartment and together they descended down the stairs. Suddenly the atmosphere felt extremely awkward.

####################

It was half past six now, and Leonard could honestly say that this was not one of his better days. It had started out deceptively nice, when he and Sheldon woke up in a good mood. They were in high spirits because yesterday they had attended a guest lecture by a Dr. Thomas Pohl about ultracold Rydberg gases, that had given him some new ideas for his own work. He had been discussing one of these new approaches with Sheldon in regard to their shared paper on the Paradoxical Movement-on-Inertia Changes due to Putative Supersolids, when Penny had visited them, clad in an eyecatching low top and a jeans that hugged her curves in a most wonderful manner.

His initial joy at seeing her vanished quickly though, when she had told them about their new neighbor who apparently was a great cook and with whom she was apparently about to go out with. Wearing that revealing outfit. He felt like he was splashed with a bucket of ice water.

Leonard knew very well that such a thing as love at first sight was not real, and that it was an attraction to Penny's looks more than anything else that had sparked his interest in the blonde when she had moved into the apartment across the hall. However, that was 5 month ago, and the time they had spent together since then, had done nothing to diminish that fascination. The opposite in fact. Penny was not an academic mind, but she had a warm, friendly and caring nature and and was very much in love with life itself, a quality most of his other social contacts were distinctly lacking. He discovered that it was a very attractive quality.

Penny herself seemed to be enjoying her time with him and the guys too, and especially over the last few weeks they had grown closer. After their quasi-date a few weeks ago - despite its unfortunate ending when he bumped his head and suffered a concussion - he had allowed himself to dream that they were moving towards a happy end. Apparently this was a dream that he did not share with Penny, a realisation that put him in a decidedly foul mood.

He was not especially proud of it, but there was no denying that he was indeed jealous of this 'René' - and what a ridiculous and 'cool' name was René anyway. He had been envious of some guys before when they had gone out with her, but somehow this cut deeper. And after having had a whole afternoon to brood about it he knew why that was.

It was supposed to be his story. The meeting in the hallway, living as neighbors while growing closer and eventually falling in love. Only, now the very same thing seemed to happen to someone else. That hurt. Especially since Penny had only met him yesterday and they were already going out. Furniture shopping of all things, as if they prepared to move in together or something.

But maybe he was overreacting here. It was not the first guy Penny had dated since she moved here, and the others did not exactly last long before they never resurfaced again. On the other hand, this René lived here now. Did that mean that their relationship would be closer, because they could spend more time together? In any case Penny seemed very enthusiastic about him, enthusiastic enough to bring him around this evening, so she could introduce him to her friends. That was what couples did when they were serious about each other, wasn't it?

Leonard heaved a tired sigh. This sucked. And his mood was not helped along by Sheldon's constant whining. Since Penny had announced that this new tenant had moved into Mrs. Gunderson's old place, he was continuously obsessing about the possible ramifications and created one horror scenario after the next. He had just gone through a frighteningly detailed scenario where René was a corrupt cop, trying to establish a drug trafficking ring in their apartment building. To top it off, he also had insisted that Leonard chauffeur him to town, where he had spent two damn hours browsing the mall for a freaking scarf. Whatever for, Leonard was too annoyed to ask.

In any case, there wasn't much that he could realistically do about Penny and her new boyfriend. Maybe, for the time being, it would be best if he'd just concentrate on evaluating him and then decide what to do. He really didn't know what to hope for here, though. If this René was an alright guy that would mean he could not really justify interfering in their relationship, if for no other reason than that he did not want to see Penny hurt. On the other hand, if he turned out to be an jerk of Kurt-sized proportions, he'd possibly paint a target on his own back. He really did not like the thought of having some bodybuilding chimpanzee with a grudge against him, as a neighbor. That could get really uncomfortable. He had no illusions that he was in no shape to defend himself against someone who seriously wanted to do him harm.

God, this whole situation was awful. He just hoped that the rest of the evening would bring some clarity. And who knew, maybe he was lucky and René was an overweight simpleton with a penchant for bad bodily hygiene, and Penny would come to realize that he himself was the better deal. Yeah, as if. It was nice to dream, though.

In any case it was dinner time soon and he should be going to pick up their order from Szechuan Palace. At least he would escape Sheldon's ramblings this way. Picking up his jacket he left the apartment and quickly made his way down the stairs only to nearly crash into someone as soon as he rounded the last corner.

Startled, they jumped apart and Leonard saw that he had nearly run over an unfamiliar woman. She was pretty and sported a petite but clearly trained build. A little taken aback by his sudden appearance, she was clutching the cardboard box she was carrying to her chest. Feeling incredibly sheepish, he gave her - what he hoped was - an apologetic smile.

"Hello."

"Hello…?"

"Hello." He winced. He really needed to get out of this stupid habit. "I, erm, sorry about that. Running into you. Erm, I haven't seen you around here?"

"No, I just moved in here, I …" She wanted to continue, when the doors opened again to admit Penny, another box in her hands. She brightened when she spotted him.

"Hey Leonard! I see you two have already met. That's cool. We're just coming back from shopping."

"I, err, we, erm … what?" He felt like his brain wanted to tell him something here, but for the life of him, he couldn't understand what.

"Everything ok? I only said that we're just coming back from shopping."

"Yeah, no, I got that. … erm, shopping?" Seriously, what was wrong with him! What good was his stupid one hundred seventy something IQ if he couldn't string two thoughts together when he really needed it?

"Yeees … furniture. I told you this morning. Remember?" Great. Now Penny looked at him funny.

The unknown woman had been turning her head back and forth, like she was watching a match of table tennis, but she seemed to have reached her limit of awkward for the moment. She straightened and addressed him. "Hi, erm, I'm Renée. You're Leonard, yes? I think we're supposed to meet tonight … that is still true, right?"

"You're … Renée?"

"I … yes."

"You're Renée?!"

"Yes…" The woman raised an eyebrow.

Then it clicked and he couldn't help but groan and facepalm himself for his earlier misconception. Clearly bewildered, the woman - no that was wrong, Renée! Ha! How great was that! - gave a helpless look to Penny, but right now he couldn't care less. Penny hadn't been out with some random guy, just with a friend. And he had spent the day agonizing about that. He chuckled relieved. "Ah, sorry about that. Apparently I laboured under a misapprehension. I understood René to be some random obese guy."

Silence.

Why were they looking at him like that?

"... thanks …. I think."

His eyes grew large when his mind caught up with his mouth. "Oh, no. Please don't think you're any of that. Quite the opposite in fact. I'm sure you're quite brilliant and anyone can see that…"

"Leonard?"

"Yes, Penny?"

"Shut up."

"...right."

Silence.

"Erm, I am going to get food." His face burning with embarrassment, he quickly fled through the doors, only stopping to give a quiet "Sorry again." when he passed Renée.

2

"Well, that was weird." was all he could hear before the door closed behind him.

####################

"I think I know what you meant with 'socially awkward', now."

Penny gave her new friend a sardonic chuckle while she shut Renée's apartment door behind her. "Yeah, don't ask me what that was about, no idea."

Renée shrugged, but chose not to comment further. "How long do you think until he's back?" The Brit gave a nervous shuffle.

Actually, that was something that Penny had seen multiple times today. Her new friend was obviously extremely anxious about meeting Penny's friends today. That in itself was not exactly a remarkable revelation. Many people were uncomfortable about meeting unfamiliar folks and before this morning she would not have given it a second thought.

Earlier today she had made a teasing comment about Renée's apparent tendency to not show any cleavage, and was honestly taken aback by the way the Brit had suddenly clammed up. A few tense minutes later Renée had calmed down again, apologized and everything went back to normal, but the blonde had started to keep an eye on her friend. Penny was certainly not the most observant person, she knew that fact about herself well enough. What she did see while they spent their day slowly strolling through the huge furniture store made her frown, though. No telling how long it would have taken for her to pick up something was going on, if Renée hadn't had her minor freak out today.

Renée took great care to make sure to never come too close to anyone. And it was not just the usual 'find the way of the least resistance'-routine that every single shopper followed, she actively went out of her way to keep the maximum possible distance to other people. Like, when they were at the register and it was their turn to pay, the Brit had had put her card in front of the cassier to avoid handing it to him, and only gingerly took it back, taking care not to touch the guy.

Whenever she felt that people were too close for her comfort, she began to shift nervously, very similar to the way she had done just now when asking for Leonards return. Obviously people rarely liked strangers touching them or invading their personal space, but this was really an extreme example. Renée might just rival Sheldon - and wasn't that a scary thought? But Renée didn't show any other of Sheldon's ticks, so why this one? It was weird.

"I'm not sure. I'd say, 15 minutes at the most."

Renée gulped and nodded.

Not wanting to waste the opportunity - and on Renée's part probably to avoid idle hands - they decided to use the time and put away their shopping, while they waited. The two women had spent their day perusing the store for all the big and small things that you needed when moving into a new place, but most of their stuff would be shipped tomorrow as they could not transport it themselves. They got curtains for the living room, rugs, a new recliner fitting her sofa, a few shelves, a library cupboard, a coffee table, plants to make the place friendlier and a couple of other, mostly smaller things. Renée had wanted to get a nice, big dinner table but none of the options available had appealed to her, so that was still on the ToDo-list. Well, there were always other shops.

"Say Renée, do you actually want to do this?"

"What? What do you mean?" The Brit had been rummaging in one of her cabinets, but turned around when Penny spoke up.

"Meet the guys. I don't know, you just seem reluctant, I guess."

"Err, well, no, I'll do it."

"And you're sure? You look really nervous."

"I am." Renée gave her a self deprecating smile. "But I'll go."

"OK, if they are being weird, we can always just go back to my place or here." Penny gave her a worried look, Renée's fidgeting had been more pronounced the closer they came to dinner time.

Renée looked grateful, but before she could answer, Penny's phone chimed. Looking at the display she it was a text from Leonard. "Looks like everyone's here. You ready to go up?"

She gulped but nodded and both girls climbed the stairs to apartment 4A. As usual Penny did not waste time on knocking and instead just opened the door and walked inside. True to Leonards word, the group was already assembled. She could see him standing over the coffee table, distributing the takeout boxes to their right places while talking to Raj and Howard, who were sitting on the couch. Both boys were leaning forward like they were hanging on his lips, but jumped back when they noticed the apartment door opening and turned towards her and Renée. By the gawking wide eyes, Leonard had probably just told them about Renée. She could feel the poor girl cringe beside her, so she quickly made another step into the room.

"Hey guys, I'd like you to meet my friend Renée. She just moved in after coming here from England. So be nice, alright."

"Be nice!" Howard grabbed his chest, as if she had uttered a terrible insult, and stood up to step closer with a ridiculous swagger that made her roll her eyes. "We're always nice, my dear." He leaned in closer to Renée, and she noticed with a satisfied glee that the Brit inched a little bit away, a clearly suspicious look on her face. "My name is Howard, but you can call me -" He paused for effect. "- 'The Incredible Howard'."

"Hi … Howard."

Clearly not deterred, he continued to put his hand on his chest, lowered his head and looked up a bit. "Let me be the first to welcome you to America and, please be honest -" Another dramatic pause. "- is it just me, or is there really a spark between us? We could go somewhere else, I'd like to get to know my future bri-"

"Oookay, that is is enough from you." Stepping in before he could make an even bigger ass of himself, Penny grabbed his arm, led him back to the couch and turned back around. "So you met Howard -" She felt him beginning to speak up again where he stood next to her, so she gave him a quick shove and he fell back onto the couch. "- and you have met Leonard -" The experimental physicist gave Renée a shy smile, but quickly broke eye contact when he blushed, clearly still embarrassed about his earlier blunder. "- so that leaves Raj and Sheldon." She gestured to the smiling Indian who sat next to Howard, and then to the last member of the group who had been standing in the kitchen, observing the scene.

On her introduction he left his place and came forward, stopping two steps in front of her friend.

"Good evening, my name is Dr. Sheldon Cooper. As I am told, you are to be joining this house community in the place of the delightful and sorely missed Mrs. Gunderson. Now, usually I would use this opportunity to inquire about your credentials and intentions but I was told in no uncertain terms to 'be on my best behaviour' -" Here he gave Penny the stink eye, that she had no compunction to return. "- so I will instead offer you this Khata." With this he picked up a folded scarf from the cupboard next to the door, and held it out with both of his hands.

Penny certainly had not expected that, and she watched an equally flustered Renée gingerly pick up the cloth from Sheldon's hands. The scarf was a beautiful light blue, hemmed with gold and seemed to be made of silk.

"I, wow, thank you! You needn't have have done that … what did you call it?"

"This is a Khata, also known as a Dhar, Khadag or Hada. It is a ceremonial welcoming gift that is offered upon arrival and departure of guests, as well as other occasions, such as births, weddings, funerals and graduations. It is a traditionally employed social convention in Nepal and Mongolia, as well as Tibet and Bhutan."

"Huh, well, thank you. That is very thoughtful." Renée gave him a shy but honest smile, that he answered with one of his trademark Sheldon-smiles, those that made him look like an overgrown schoolboy.

"Yes, well, now that this is out of the way, Penny tells me that you 'used to be a police officer'. I would like to enquire as to why it 'used to be' so. Was it a history of substance abuse?"

Penny facepalmed. Urgh! It had been nice for the 5 minutes that it lasted.

"What? No!"

"I see. Then, did you perhaps violate the code of ethics? Did you threaten witnesses into submission? Torture prisoners? Destroyed evidence?"

For a moment Renée clearly was speechless, then she squared her shoulders and crossed her arms before her chest, her mouth set into a grim line. Penny was a little surprised by the effect it had, Renée was such a tiny woman and her demeanor had always been friendly, but shy, not wanting to attract attention. There was no trace of this unassuming woman in the Renée that stood here now, she was every inch the formidable police operative that Penny logically knew she must have been to hold as much sway as she claimed to yesterday.

"Nothing of the sort I assure you," The Brits voice showed that she clearly was offended by the insinuations. "If you must know, I remain part of the force to act as a consult as necessary, but have retired from active duty. Of my own will."

Sheldon seemed to consider this for a moment, but eventually nodded. "Very well, it seems that the situation is less dire than I was led to believe." Wow, a concession from Sheldon was a rare thing, by the surprised look on Leonards face, he seemed to agree.

"Great" Penny piped up. "Now that the interrogation is over -" She shot another dark look at the lanky physicist. "- we can finally…"

"Hold." Sheldon interrupted her, his hand held out in a 'stop'-gesture.

Penny groaned. "What now?"

Ignoring her, Sheldon addressed Renée instead. "Are you capable of utilizing a musical instrument and if yes, how often and when do you do so?"

Renée had uncrossed her arms, but her stiff posture betrayed that she was still tense. She frowned at him. "I don't play an instrument."

"Excellent." Sheldon, nodded pleased. "Now, where do you stand on parties?"

"...parties?"

"Yes. Social festivities involving a number of people, possibly strangers, routinely accompanied by loud music, dancing and excessive consumption of alcohol, resulting in the expelling of stomach contents and people copulating in the hallways." Sheldon helpfully explained.

Great, now Renée looked annoyed. Why couldn't she have normal neighbors?

"I just moved here, I barely know anyone." The brit stated with gritted teeth.

"Oh very good, please see that it remains this way."

Errh, scratch that, Renée looked _really_ annoyed.

"Sheldon, are you done?" Leonard inserted exasperated. "Let her sit down and shut up."

"In a moment, for your information you are doing remarkably well." Sheldon addressed the Brit, completely oblivious to her scowling, or that of basically everyone else. "Now, I would like to know whether or not I shall expect wailing children disrupting my night's rest in the future. Are you fertile?"

Penny gaped, and with growing horror she watched Renée becoming very, very still. Trying to somehow salvage the situation, she rounded on the culprit. "Sheldon! The hell! You can't say things like this."

Obviously surprised, he gave her an uncomprehending expression. "Of course I can Penny, in fact I -"

He was interrupted by the apartment door slamming shut. Stunned, they all watched the now empty spot where their new neighbor had been standing just a moment before. Breaking out into curses that made Sheldon take a step back from her, she quickly closed the distance and ripped open the door to storm into the hallway, just in time to hear Renée's apartment door closing. Crap!

Continuing her cursing, she hurried down to 3A, swearing again when her knocking was not answered. "Renée come on, please open the door. I'm so so sorry, I know you only came because you wanted to do me a favour." She waited, but could not hear anything on the other side. "Renée! Can we please talk about this? Please open up."

She continued to try for several more minutes, but when it was apparent that Renée would not answer her, she dejectedly turned her back and climbed back up. She felt like hitting herself over the head, why the hell had she thought this would be a good idea. She knew that the guys were awkward company, especially when they met strangers, and it was so blindingly obvious today that Renée herself was uncomfortable with people too. This had just screamed for disaster, and of course Sheldon would … argh, Sheldon! Wait till she got a hold of him!

She did not wait until the door clicked shut behind her before she began to lay into him, crossing the distance between them in two long strides and poking her finger into his chest. She had cut Raj off mid-sentence but she really could not spare a thought to that at the moment. "What the hell is wrong is wrong with you Sheldon! You couldn't have been any more of an asshole, if you tried! I told you that this was important to me, and you can't even be bothered to act nice for 10 minutes!"

Sheldon bristled. "Excuse me, I was perfectly courteous and accommodating. If it has escaped your notice, I even went so far as to employ a traditional welcoming ceremony. One, I might add, that was well received, she even found it 'thoughtful'." Clearly pleased with his reasoning, he preened himself.

"Oh yeah? Then where is she?" She replied in a biting voice. "Because I sure as hell don't see her."

"She's right, Sheldon." Leonard hesitantly weighed in. "She was clearly upset."

"You can't know that. Maybe she went to store her new Khata away."

Exasperated Leonard put a hand onto his forehead. "No Sheldon. She left because you upset her."

"Why would she be upset?" He seemed to think for a moment. "Oh. Of course." He gave a considering nod. "She thought my inquiry regarding her fertility signalled romantic availability on my my part and found herself unprepared. I shall rectify this misunderstanding." Sheldon made to move towards the exit, but was stopped by Penny.

"Argh, no, you dimwit! She left because you were incredibly rude, conceited and offensive!"

He stopped again, affronted. "I was not! Leonard tell her, I was not!"

"Yes, you were." Leonard gave a disapproving look.

Sheldon seemed honestly surprised by that and looked at Howard and Raj, clearly expecting help from them. At Raj's affirmative nodding, he folded, though clearly still bewildered. "I see."

"Penny," Leonard stepped forward, fiddling with his hands held before his chest like always when he was nervous. "Where is she now?"

Penny gave him a flat look, that made him wince. "She's back in her apartment, what do you think?"

"Uhm, do you think we should talk to her? I know we didn't make the greatest first impression…"

"Oh really?" He winced again, and Penny decided to take a little pity on him, he certainly hadn't been the biggest problem here today. "But no. She won't answer her door." She said dejected.

"Penny, I am so sorry. I know this meant a lot to you and we messed it up. Well," he hesitated. "Maybe not Raj, but the rest of us."

"Yes, well, who would have thought that the guy who can't talk to woman was the smoothest here."

Raj beamed.

####################

The next morning, Renée woke up from her featherlight sleep as soon as the first sunlight shone into her bedroom. For a moment she was disoriented, but then cringed when she remembered what had happened yesterday.

She attempted to push herself up on her arms, but quickly stopped when she became dizzy. Taking care not too move too much, she took inventory of her body. She could feel the dried tracks on her face where she had cried and her limbs felt weak. Her head was killing her, and her throat was parched. The rasping feeling was the only reason she held her groan back. She felt wretched. It was - unfortunately - a familiar feeling.

Renée pressed her eyes shut and willed the memory of yesterday evening away. Bugger, why'd she had to lose it, yesterday of all days. It screwed up her streak, she had gone six whole days without a panic attack. It had been her personal best so far. Then again, the game was basically over, the moment Penny's weird friend had brought children into play, she was still annoyingly sensitive about that. She had spent her evening curled into herself and arms wrapped around her body, crying herself to sleep after the tremors had subsided and the worst was over.

Penny must think her mad, and that thought shouldn't trouble her as much as it did. She just met her after all, but the blonde girl had been a comforting presence by her side since she ran into her in the hallway yesterday afternoon. She really needed to apologize for her freak out. Later. When her head had calmed down a little and she no longer felt like a Horntail's chew toy.

Sleep would be good for that. Only, there was no way she could sleep when her head was throbbing like it did right now. She longed for a Pepperup Elixir, but unfortunately those became addictive after continued consumption over a longer period of time, and with the amount she had taken lately, Molly Weasley had preemptively dumped her supply into the drain. She could have just gone into an apothecary to get a new batch, but honestly the thought of an irate Molly scared her more than the fatigue she suffered after her panic attacks. Considering how bad she was feeling right now, that really said something about the Weasley temper.

Mia, angel that she was, had supplied her with some muggle medicine that helped against her headaches, Ibu-something-she-couldn't-remember - honestly how could the Muggles distinguish between their medicines when they gave them such ridiculous and unrecognisable names? Those were not as good as a Pepperup and they always made her sleepy afterwards, but that was fine. She always felt like hiding away in her bed after an attack anyway.

They were in a bag in her bathroom, but that meant she would have to stand up to get there. Renée was tempted to simply accio them to her, she still had her wand strapped to her wrist, but when she came here she had resolved that she would forego magic as long as it wasn't an emergency. For one because she was living surrounded by muggles, and didn't want to get into trouble over risking the statute of secrecy - Mia would have her hide if she'd, however unintended, sabotaged her work for the ICW TASoS - the Taskforce for the gradual Abolition of the Statue of Secrecy.

Also, she did not want to attract the attention of the magical community here in the states, on the off chance that someone might recognize her. Before she came here, she had done her research, and similar as the British Ministry, the Americans - namely the MACUSA Surveillance Wizarding Resources Department - did have ways to detect the use of magic in Muggle areas and to - if they thought it necessary - dispatch someone to deal with the fallout. She really did not want to gain the attention of some overzealous office clerk who wanted to lecture her on the proper use of magic. She knew that she was being paranoid, but with her luck, who could fault her for that, really.

That left her with limited options. One option actually. Once she was on her feet she felt a little better, but not wanting to wait until her head stopped throbbing on its own, she made her way into the bathroom, swallowed a few gulps of water to ease her throat and then downed a pill. Afterwards, Renée trudged right back into bed.

She woke up again, a few hours later, feeling much better, and a look at her phone told her it was noon. Good, for a moment she had thought, she slept through the day, but noon was still ok. Over yesterdays chaos, Renée had almost forgotten that she had an appointment today. The furniture delivery from yesterday was due sometime between two and six. That left her with enough time to get into motion. And to make herself presentable, she had a friend to apologize to - and when had she began to refer to Penny as her friend anyway? Right now, she would be at work though, so that would have to wait.

Renée spent her day continuing to make her new apartment into a home, fluttering from room to room, unpacking stuff, arranging stuff, assembling stuff - Gods, why did she have so much stuff? In between, she had found the time to scout out the nearby park while she took Wookie for a walk, as well as to email her agent for an appointment to visit the business premise that she would turn into her very own restaurant. She did not even have to leave the house or actually speak with someone for that - Muggle technology was awesome! The wizarding world had no idea what it was missing.

Her furniture shipment arrived somewhat around 5pm, while she was finding a place for her new plants. Wookie immediately went to hide out in Renée's bedroom again, as soon as she caught sight of the workers maneuvering the large cardboard boxes through the door, and generally being loud. This time, she had only paid for the delivery but would take care of the assembly herself, so luckily they were gone just as fast as they came and Renée did not have to suffer another invasion into her home.

Renée had just turned away after seeing off the carriers, when there was another knocking on her door. A little confused she went to open it, swallowing nervously when she was confronted with a fidgeting Leonard and a stoic Sheldon.

Wringing his hands in front of his chest, Leonard sent her a nervous smile and a little wave. His quiet "Hello." was followed by Sheldon's own greeting.

Caught somewhere in the middle of her embarrassment over her freak out yesterday and lingering indignation over Sheldon's rather crude behaviour, Renée tried for a hesitant smile but was pretty sure that it came out more like a grimace. "Erm, hello."

"Hello." "Hello." Came the prompt echo and she saw Leonard wince awkwardly, while Sheldon gave no outward reaction.

After a short hesitation, and prompted by his friends elbow in his side, the tall scientist, raised a hand to his mouth and cleared his throat. "I was made to understand that my behavior during our introduction yesterday could, from a certain point of view and taking additional parameters into account, possibly be interpreted…" Here Sheldon was interrupted by a second nudge from Leonard, and threw him a grumpy glare. "Fine. I might have, inadvertently, offended you." There was a pause, then another nudge, this one more insistent. "And I apologize."

Renée was just about to say something, when he continued talking.

"Alternatively, in case this interpretation is false, allow me to present another one." His eyes took on a victorious gleam. "You have left, because there has been a misunderstanding regarding my sexual availability. Because, I assure you, I am not." Next to him, she could see Leonard's face falling into his hands.

Renée opened her mouth.

Then she closed it.

And opened it again.

"Yeah, erm, no. The first."

"... I see." Sheldon pouted and looked to the ground like a scolded child. "In that case, please excuse me for a moment, I will be right back."

And with that he turned and disappeared up the stairs. Not knowing what to do, Renée shot the other man a glance, seeking help and explanation. "What just happened?"

His reply was a pitying look. "You just had your second dose of Sheldon. I'd like to say you get used to it, but…" He shrugged and began wringing his hands again. "Anyway, erm, I know we really didn't make the best impression yesterday - all of us - and, erm, we're really sorry."

"Yeah, well, I'm sorry, too. For running off like that." She shuffled uncomfortably, but Leonard waved her apology away.

"Don't be. He was way out of line."

Renée shrugged, not disputing the fact. "... is he always like this?"

"Pretty much." Leonard confirmed. "Though it gets a little better once you get to know him. If it's any consolation, he doesn't realize when he's being offensive. He was honestly surprised when we told him that he was rude to you."

"I'm not sure if that makes it better or worse."

Leonard winced a little, but said nothing as the topic of their conversation came back down, carrying a steaming cup in his hands that he offered her with an anticipatory gesture.

A little taken aback, she asked "What is this?"

"This is tea. Earl Grey, to be precise. I found it appropriate, considering your British background."

"Erm … ok? Why?"

"Well, the tea was named after Charles Grey, who was the British Prime Minister in 1833 when…"

"No, I mean why are you offering me tea?"

"You were upset. It's social protocol to serve a hot beverage if someone is upset." His mien clearly showed that this was something she should have known.

"Right…"

Speechless, she again looked to Leonard for help, but he just shrugged with an amused smirk. "No one can accuse his mother that she didn't do her best to make him into a real boy."

With a sigh, she resigned herself into her fate, gingerly accepted the cup from Sheldon's hands and invited them inside.

She led them into the living room, and told them to make themselves comfortable, while she went to set up a kettle, ignoring the curious looks the two boys were giving their new surroundings.

"I like what you're doing with the place." Leonard spoke up, indicating the room as a whole, and the newly arrived boxes that were still lining the wall, waiting to be unpacked. "Once you're finished it's going to be very homely."

Renée gave him a quick smile. "Thanks, I just need to set up what's left here, and then I have most of what I need. So, I should be done soon."

"Well, let us know if we can help you with that. It's the least we can do, after … well."

"It is?" Sheldon spoke up, a sceptical frown on his face.

"Yes Sheldon, it is." Leonard gave the taller man an imperious look, and he made an understanding noise. Renée quickly hid an amused smirk at the display, Penny's flippant description of 'manchild' was dead on.

"Ah, thanks, I guess. Maybe I'll call you if I need help. Sit down, sit down." She gestured towards the couch, then busying herself with preparing tea, only to get distracted when Sheldon began to shuffle uncomfortably.

"What?" She asked warily.

"I am trying to decide where to sit."

"...huh?" was her intelligent reply.

"Never mind. Would you be open to moving the couch about…"

"Sheldon, we will not move her furniture around. Just sit down."

"But the alignment makes no sense. It…"

While not really understanding the problem, Renée liked to think that the fuss would have been short-lived. Oh, how nice it'd have been to let the evening fade away with a soothing cup of tea. Unfortunately, Wookie had chosen this moment to enter the room and check out their visitors. She could see the very moment Sheldon recognized the dog, because his mouth closed with a jarring clacking of teeth.

Then he screamed.


	3. Chapter 3 - The Calm Before The Storm

AN

Amazing, how fast a year can go by. I let the story lie a bit because I wrote myself into a corner somewhere in the middle of the chapter, before I found the inspiration on how to continue with it. A big thank you again to my fiancée, who was my beta again.

Someone in the reviews asked whether or not femHarry and Penny will be a pairing, since they are the only characters who are tagged for the story. I'm sad to say that I don't think the story will develop into this direction, even though I very much like the idea and it's potential. I certainly intend for them to become close friends, but its unlikely that they will become romantically involved.

Another point I wanted to mention is, that I do not want to write The Avalon Project as a TBBT-rehash with an additional fem!Harry-character, but that I hope to build an storyline that - while it certainly will interact with TBBT-canon - stays independent. I will therefore incorporate key episodes into this story, either because they are important for the development of our characters or just because I like them particularly well. I'll just ignore episodes who fit neither category.

(BTW: while I stopped writing The Avalon Project for a while, I didn't stop writing completely. I have begun to write an HP/Naruto crossover. You know, just a teaser, in case you like that.)

So I hope you enjoy the new chapter, and if you'd like to let me know how you like it, you'll make me very happy! Mainly world building today.

/AN

 _POTTER STILL MISSING - CHAOS ENSUES!_

 _by Lavender Thomas for the Daily Prophet, November 4th, 2007_

 _Today is the fourth day since the ambush that resulted in Ava Potters missing person case, and still there has been made no significant headway into locating and rescuing one of the most renowned and powerful witches that the British Wizarding Community has ever brought forth._

 _While the Auror Office assures us that they are treating Ms. Potters possible abduction with top priority and channelled all available personnel and resources into the case, the only person who can probably tell more - the surviving attacker - remains unconscious in St. Mungo's Hospital, under heavy guard - and protection. Over the last two days, no less than three persons were arrested for trying to gain access into the secure wing where he is held. The perpetrators are currently being questioned in order to gauge the possibility of them being accomplices trying to sabotage the investigation by either rescuing or assassinating the culprit._

 _Meanwhile, there have been multiple instances of angry citizens autonomously attacking perceived suspects. The biggest incident occurred yesterday morning, when a crowd of ten civilians attempted to raid the Carrow's ancestral home in Norfolk, only to be repelled by the estate's protections. All ten attackers suffered injuries, but are expected to make a full recovery while they remain in custody. The Ministry condemns the attacks and assures that the investigation is conducted as fast as possible and appeals everyone to keep their calm and peace in the meantime._

 _Also in this issue:_

 _Attack on the Carrow Estate - Unfortunate victims or legitimate target? (by Morris Greenbridge) Pg.4_

-000-

It took a full hour and the combined coaxing of Renée, Leonard and Penny before Sheldon was ready to come out of her bathroom, where he had barricaded himself in, seeking protection from the 'murderous beast' roaming her apartment. The beast in question, in the meantime, had settled down on her dog pillow and cheerfully watched their increasingly desperate attempts to get the scientist to leave his improvised bastion. A happy doggy-grin and lolling tongue included, firm in place. At long last, Renée had them all sitting on her couch and proceeded to shove a hot cup of tea into everybody's hand, because - in Sheldon's words - 'it's social protocol to serve a hot beverage if someone is upset'. And Renée was upset. Being annoyed with the latest drama certainly counted, right?

At least Penny and Leonard had been there, if she had been alone when Sheldon panicked, she probably never would have gotten him out of his hiding spot. The blonde had been in the stairwell, coming home from work, when Sheldon's scream made her burst through the door, just in time to see him dash away from Wookie as fast as he could. Even now he sat as far away from the perceived danger as possible, regularly shooting suspicious glares at the curled up animal. Penny still wore a gleeful grin and enjoyed the display.

Feeling the need to address the lingering issue, she tried to placate the nervous man. "I promise you, you're perfectly safe Sheldon. She won't attack you."

"You cannot know that!" He insisted stubbornly.

"Sure I can, she's a big wuss. She'd rather hide herself away than to try and attack someone." Renée replied easily and shrugged. "Worst she'd do is try and nick something. Like your food." She tried to hide her chuckles at his horrified expression, at the mere mention of having a dog near his food.

"That's right, from now on you need to watch your food ... and your underwear." Penny added with a shit-eating grin, and promptly received a backhanded slap to her arm from a sheepish Renée.

Leonard wore a bewildered expression at that comment, but thankfully seemed to decide that he was better off not knowing.

"So, erm Renée, I wanted to ask: What exactly is it that you do? I mean, Penny mentioned you used to be a police officer, but then yesterday you said that you're still a part of the British force … but no longer active? How does that work exactly? Especially with you moving to California?" Renée could see the confused frown on Leonards face as he stumbled through his question, and even Sheldon perked up, apparently interested.

"Oh, oh, I know that!" Penny proclaimed and wiggled excitedly in her seat "Renée came here because she's gonna open a restaurant, but she's a big shot in the British FBI and there would be a big fuss if she just up and left, so she made them retire her into the reserve so they can still call on her if shit goes down."

Renée cringed a little at Penny's sloppy summarization and hastily busied herself with a careful sip from her teacup while Sheldon and Leonard raised their eyebrows in silent question and turned their heads to wait for her answer.

When she could no longer draw the moment out, she carefully set her cup back onto the saucer and gave a halfhearted shrug. "Erh, well, that was essentially correct, I think." Renée answered in an uncertain voice.

"British FBI?" came from Leonard.

"Restaurant?" asked Sheldon.

She sighed.

In the end, Renée had to repeat her cover story again for Leonard and Sheldon, even though the two of them made for a much more inquisitive audience than Penny had. When the conversation had turned to what exactly Renée's function in the British SOCA had been, she had tried to satisfy them with a few edited description of the more interesting aspects of her auror experience, but quickly had to tell them that the particulars of her job were confidential. Even though Penny - and to a lesser degree Leonard - seemed a bit disappointed by her cut-off, luckily they accepted it easy enough and returned to safer topics.

Her intention to open a restaurant, had been met with similar enthusiasm, and even Sheldon had, in an awkward attempt at goodwill, expressed his well wishes for her. At least he did so after he and the other two had descended into an argument about whether that meant their eating schedule - what?! - had to be adjusted again to include her new place, like they did for Penny at the Cheesecake Factory. The apparent conclusion was, that they would alternate their Burger-Tuesday at the Factory with a visit to Renées upcoming establishment - naturally allowing for a probation period - and by the end of it, she had developed a twitch in her eye and urgently reaffirmed her intention to find a second chef and additional kitchen staff who could take over and allow her for a few free days if she wanted them. Like every second Tuesday, came to mind.

Judging by the amused curl of her lips, Penny knew exactly what she was thinking about.

They were interested to hear her intention to forego a fixed menu, or rather limit it to a handful of essentials, and instead go with a changing special every week. She was banking that her quality-not-quantity approach would allow her to stand out from her competition and it also had the convenient side effect to keep things interesting for both the customers and herself, preventing her from having to cook the always same dishes.

When she had begun to broaden her knowledge in the obscure magical arts and studied with and under several scholars, her pursuit had led her to many different and beautiful places around the globe and she had, whenever the opportunity presented itself, tried to pick up something from the local cuisine as well. It was fascinating to see how different and diverse people performed their craft in the various places of the world, be it magic, or food, or anything else humans chose to concentrate their dedication and creativity on and she had loved it.

It was a little sad that her situation demanded that she'd had to take a break from continuing her studies, and consequently her travels too. Before she had decided on her retreat to California, she had planned to spend one or two weeks this spring travelling to France and consult with a researcher who was exploring his hypothesis that ghosts were formed as a result of unresolved life debts.

It was a largely unexplored field of magical theory. Life debts were such an extremely vague and somewhat indefinite concept, that there was not even an unanimous agreement in the public opinion - or scientific community for that matter - whether or not they were an actual bond created and enforced by magic or no more than a social construct. As it was, you could say that the topic was a matter of faith in the wizarding world. Some people, like the major part of the Weasley family, were convinced that life debts were an instrument of magic itself, a way to ensure balance where it was needed, and that was why sometimes the debts were formed and sometimes they were not. Then there were others like Hermione who would argue that they only worked because they were honored. Because people felt compelled to act as if they were real. That the affected persons simply sought to repay an obligation, whether out of gratitude or because they hated the idea to owe something.

Now, whether they were a real thing or not, Renée's life had been influenced by life debts in the past, that much was undeniably true. Pettigrew's certainly, but probably even more important - though less immediate - Severus' debt to her father. So, when Renée had heard that the man was researching in the field, she had taken the initiative and established communication to meet him. There was a high chance that he did not find anything useful, but still, you never knew. But she had needed to postpone her plans for the time being, anyway.

An hour or two after they had finally settled down, their meeting eventually came to an end and Renée breathed a relieved sigh when the door closed behind her guests. At last she had her apartment for herself again.

Today might have gone considerably better than yesterdays debacle, but that didn't mean that Renée was suddenly in her element. Dealing with people had always been extraordinarily taxing for her, doubly so if she didn't know them very well. They had agreed to try and meet for dinner again in two days, so hopefully she could use the time to recharge her social batteries.

-000-

"...and get this, when I tell him that I just moved here and don't know anyone, he seriously said that I should 'see to it, that is stays that way'!"

Hermione's laughter on the other end of the line was loud and carefree and Renée couldn't help but feel a little melancholic at the thought that the person she was closest to, was half a world away from her. After the emotional rollercoaster of the last few days, she had been feeling increasingly homesick and decided to forget about making this a productive day and indulge in a lazy morning instead, to fulfil her promise and make a call home.

"I mean, seriously, who does that!" she exclaimed with more outrage than she really felt at the moment.

For a moment she listened wistfully to her best friends subsiding chuckles and then let herself sink back into the water of her bathtub until she was submerged deep enough that she could feel a faint prickle in her latest scars. Resisting the urge to touch the still somewhat tender flesh on her chest and neck, she suppressed an angry sigh. Over three month now and the wounds were still only healing in an infuriatingly slow pace. The dagger that had caused them had had a curse placed upon it, specifically designed to interfere with all attempts to heal the wounds it inflicted.

In a way, it was like each period in her life was defined by her scars.

Even in her early years in Little Whinging, the first thing people noticed, when looking at the weird little child from No.4 was the prominent lightning bolt scar on her forehead and even long before finding out out about it's true significance, it had been a defining mark. A warning sign for the honest, hardworking people of Britain, as her Uncle had liked to say and no matter how desperately she had begged to be allowed to grow her fringe out to hide it, her aunt had taken a perverse pleasure in denying her pleas and making sure it always was on full display.

When she had turned eleven and joined the new and exciting world of Wizarding Britain, it did not take her long to realize that very little would change in that regard. Just like before, everyone knew her by her scar, even though it's meaning had taken a full turn. For them, it was no reason to stay away but a permanent spotlight instead. It made her a target for the everchanging judgment and expectations of complete strangers and acquaintances alike. If possible she hated it even more.

At least, until it became opportune to turn her status around again and she honestly could no longer tell, what was worse: Them saying the curse had damaged her mind, that she was insane and dangerous or the previous hero-worship.

The end of the Second Wizarding War was a salvation for her, and as if providing a symbolic representation of her freedom from Trelawney's thrice damned prophecy and Magical Britain's first unrestrained breath after it's latest civil war, she had been delighted to see that her scar was slowly fading until all that remained was a faint outline. Her decision to join the Aurors might have been the very first time that she could freely choose the way she wanted her life to take.

It only made sense that her new scars marked the end of her Auror career.

"Well, I don't know what to tell you Ava, you certainly know how to pick them." Hermione said, amusement still evident in her voice.

"Isn't that right." Renée agreed exasperatedly.

"Well, look at it this way, you already found your first regulars before you even opened. That's good, right?"

"It feels more like a threat, really." She deadpanned.

"I'm sure it will be alright." Her friend soothed her. "Have you seen the restaurant already? Is there much to do?"

The change of subject perked Renée up a little. "No, not yet, but the agent has an opening tomorrow, so I'm gonna find out soon. There's gonna be some contractors too, so they can take a look. I already know that they have to do some work before I can open."

"That's nice, Ava. You sound excited." She could hear the smile in Hermione's words.

"Yeah, I guess I am. It's been a while since I did something that I am really enjoying."

"I always told you, you work too much."

"Ha, look who's talking! Little Miss I-Have-Three-Jobs." Renée grinned at the hypocrisy. "One of these days, you will have more positions than even Dumbledore had."

"Oh shush, Ava! You're exaggerating!"

She really wasn't.

Shortly before Mia had finished her education at Hogwarts, she had been approached by the schools new headmistress, Minerva McGonagall, who had offered the girl the chance to obtain a mastery in Transfiguration under her continued tutelage, much like a younger McGonagall had done under Albus Dumbledore.

Transfiguration had always been one of Hermione's favorites, her well-organised and curious mind making her well suited to the exacting and scientific approach that was required to excel in it. It came as no surprise for anyone that, after a short consideration, Hermione quickly agreed to her proposition. She had spent the next three stressful years achieving her mastery and helping the Scotswoman manage her own threefold responsibilities as Headmistress, Professor and as Hermione's own instructor. She had found a particular liking in her assignment as the Professor's teaching assistant, and when the three years had passed and Hermione had her diploma in her hands, McGonagall had offered her, her own position as Hogwarts' Transfiguration Professor.

It was nice to know that not all history that repeated itself was bad.

Of course, Hermione wouldn't be Hermione if she were ever satisfied with only one project, so when her schedule freed up after her apprenticeship was finished, and her timetable cleared as she settled into her new responsibilities, she turned toward her second great love - besides her new fiancé, of course - books!

Not as a reader this time, but as an author. And after two and a half years and countless, sleepless nights of poring over timelines and mountains of correspondence, she released her first work: 'The Blood Wars' by Hermione Granger-Longbottom. She had taken her new name just two months' prior, after marrying Neville - her boyfriend of eight years. It wasn't the first contemporary work about the First and Second Wizarding War, but it certainly was the most comprehensive.

On 600 pages, Hermione had created an immersive in-depth study on the alleged ideal of blood purity and the wars it had just culminated in. With the help of contemporary witnesses, she had painstakingly created a timeline spanning almost 90 years, beginning even before Tom Riddle's birth with Merope Gaunt's plight on the hands of her own family. She included details that were previously completely unknown to the broader public. Ava herself had added accounts of her experiences, and so had quite a number of people - some of them well known figures of the British Wizarding World, others not at all - a few of them even former Death Eaters or sympathisers themselves, though Hermione would always make sure that the reports of those who were unrepentant of their time in what she privately called the 'Wizarding SS' would appear in the proper context, if they were even willing to provide a quote in the first place.

Hermione's well argumented conclusion was that the war for Pureblood Supremacy had caused more dead pure blooded wizards and destroyed more culture than any amount of influence that muggleborns could have exerted upon the Wizarding World, ever could have done.

At the end of the book she had included an addendum: a list of all the known people who were killed as a direct result of the wars, including the circumstance of their death, where it was known - regardless of which side they were on. It was 80 pages long.

As an unexpected side effect, her new project had marked the return of Draco Malfoy into their lives. He had still been working on obtaining his own mastery in Magical Law, when Mia contacted him to ask for his own insights and how he had experienced the war. She had not expected much, but apparently what happened to him had forced him to grow up a little and it suited him well. He had willingly provided her with his own perspective, both as a staunch supporter of the Dark Lord and later as a disillusioned and disgraced servant. His insight had been invaluable and while they worked together, the both of them became something like friends. Very cranky friends, who endlessly snarked at one another, but still.

The book was a hit, and in the first few weeks after it's release, it almost sold quicker than the bookshops could restock it. Much more important for Hermione though, aside from the obvious financial boon, was that it gave her the perfect opportunity to cash in some of the political capital she had earned as one of the heroes of the Second Wizarding War, as a reputable Professor of one of the best magical schools there are and now as an accomplished political author.

A staunch libertarian at heart, she always had major issues with how Wizarding Britain handled itself in, well, almost all aspects. With determination - and the occasional grudging pointer from Draco - Hermione seized the opportunity and used her newfound publicity to butt her head into current political and philosophical debates and make her voice heard. And it worked.

Right after the release there was rarely a fortnight where the Prophet did not ask for a statement of some kind and even though she did not hold an official position in the wizengamot or the Ministry, Hermione Granger-Longbottom became a well known and widely respected political figure. Her influence solidified further when she accepted Minister Shacklebolt's offer - who seemed to only have waited for such an opportunity - to join his team of advisors and thereby established direct influence into the administrative and legislative governing body of Wizarding Britain and continued to make her voice heard.

Of course, that did not mean she was single handedly running a country or reforming century old laws, she didn't even hold a seat in the Wizengamot. She was only a single actor in a large system, after all, but to have the ear of the minister opened many avenues. Still, there were many political battles to be fought, and if anything the mills of politics grind slowly. Nevertheless she did her best and in Renées humble opinion, Wizarding Britain was better for it, even though the big victories were yet to come.

Her most important opportunity so far, happened last year when Kingsley appointed her to represent Britain in a Taskforce that was currently being established by the International Confederation of Wizards. Not all wizarding communities were as disconnected from the muggle world as the British' and the rapid progress in science and technology by their non magical fellows had not gone unnoticed and sparked doubts how long the statute of secrecy could realistically still be upheld.

The argument had been going on for almost ten years now, a huge part of them fiercely defending, and wanting to even further enforce the separation of their worlds. In the end though, they were helpless not to admit that an uncontrolled and unprepared exposure would most certainly be catastrophic, maybe even resulting in all-out war. A war they could never hope to win. Their reluctant answer was to form a taskforce to devise, prepare for and supervise a gradual step by step deconstruction of their defensive protocols and to reach out to the various muggle governments so they could make the transition as smooth as possible.

The potential problems that needed solving, before they could even think of beginning with the very first step of their planned abolition of the Statute of Secrecy, were manifold and would keep the newly formed Taskforce busy for a long, long time, all the while hoping that the Statute would hold and not force them to reveal their hands before they were ready.

So yeah, between her job as a professor, being on call for advising the minister, meeting regularly to work in the ICW Taskforce, navigating the political scene and taking care of her toddling daughter, saying that her best friend was busy, was the understatement of the still very young century. She even found the time to always check in how Renée herself was doing. She quietly suspected that Mia somehow got her hand on a time turner, there was just no other explanation for the frankly ridiculous workload she had to handle.

"Well anyway, enough of that. Tell me how Rosie is doing, Mia. Is she walking already?" Renée was proud how she almost kept the anxious tremble out of her voice this time.

Hermione answered with a fond scoff. "Why would she do that, when she can just get her daddy to carry her around all day, like the limpet she is. I'm not even sure she has touched the ground once today."

"Nev is still indulging her every whim, then?"

"Like there is no tomorrow. Did I tell you how smug he was when he brought her to her playgroup for the very first time? He couldn't stop bragging how many words His daughter already learned since she started to babble and ..."

Smiling softly while she listened to her best friend ramble on about the exploits of her little family, she used the opportunity to furtively wipe away the telltale wetness in her eyes and then lifted her leg out of the water to open the tap and let fresh warm water wash away the slow onset of coolness in her limbs.

She could stay like this for a while.

-000-

Renée was exhausted from a long day, when she followed Penny's invitation and hesitantly made her way towards the Cheesecake Factory on friday evening. They had met once more in the meantime and even though Renée had felt a little awkward and out of place they fortunately had been able to circumvent any greater dramatic outbreaks this time.

They had sat down for dinner on wednesday evening and Renée yet again had to repeat her background story for Howard and Raj's benefit, but by then she had been feeling secure enough in her story that she could reiterate it without her nerves flaring. Apart from that, she had mainly kept out of the conversation and when the boys started to gather for a round of video games, Penny and herself had retreated to the side and opened a bottle of wine.

Apart from her little outing, Renée had kept herself busy and by now her new apartment was largely set up and even came out cosy and comfortable if she'd say so herself. There were still a few odds and ends of course, and she had spent the last two days cursing her head off while she tried to assemble the various furnitures she had collected on her shopping trip. Those infernal shelves were clearly not intended to be set up by a single pair of hands, but facing the alternative to ask her new neighbors for help, she hadn't been able to summon the necessary spirit for such a stressful situation.

To her silent embarrassment, the last couple of days had given her some very much unexpected challenges. Growing up in a muggle home and making a point of enjoying the best of both worlds - muggle or magical - Renée had thought she would be prepared to easily revert to a purely mundane lifestyle. She had never been aware how dependant she had become on her magic to take care of the all the little things that she'd rather avoid or that required more effort than she wanted to expend and therefore never bothered to learn properly.

Just a few days ago she had been in the shower and had wanted to wash her hair when she stumbled over all the multicoloured bottles and vials of hair care products and realised that she had absolutely no idea how to use them. For years she had simply used some magical all-in-one stuff and had never had any reason to complain or care further than that. Was she supposed to use the shampoo first, or the conditioner? That was important, right? And what would happen if she did it wrong? She'd rather avoid having her hair fall out.

And the less was said about her - literally - painful first attempt foregoing cosmetic charms and shave herself, the better. Both her skin and her dignity still needed to recover from that episode. She'd had to revert to use her phone and look for a video How-To, for fear of inflicting some serious damage upon herself. Renée just hoped nobody saw her browser history. She would own up to a lot of things in there, be they cutesy cat videos, her amateurish attempts at online gaming or even her porn habits - well, maybe not those - but a 27 year old woman who didn't know how to shave herself, that was just embarrassing.

Renée had just come back from checking in on her new property and discuss the necessary restauration works that needed to be done before she could open her restaurant to the public. All in all it looked to be in better condition than she had expected and the construction manager had estimated that his crew should be done with everything in about three weeks, four at most. What was left for her was to find a competent interior designer that would help her decide on how to furnish the place, including the staff room, office and kitchen and to start her search for some competent personnel if she didn't want to do everything herself. The necessary paperwork meanwhile was processed by her Gringotts manager, for which she was infinitely thankful for. All she had to do on that front was provide a few signatures.

True to the directions Penny had given her, she could see the big sign indicating her destination, as soon as she set foot onto the West Colorado Boulevard. She began to slow down her steps a little though, when the door opened to allow Sheldon and a pretty Indian woman, wearing a striking green dress, outside. By the way Sheldon was animatedly gesturing his hands, they were deep in conversation and if she was reading the blush on her cheeks correctly he was currently laying on the charm. Renée couldn't help but smirk at that. Who knew her awkward neighbor could be charming.

Not wanting to bother the two of them, she didn't draw attention to herself and waited to let them wander off into the opposite direction, before entering the Cheesecake factory herself. There were only a few customer inside and she easily spotted the rest of the group lingering by the counter, with Penny attending the bar. Apparently she saw her coming in, because her face lit up into a smile while she waved her over.

"Renée, you made it! Hi!"

"Hey Penny, hello boys." Renée greeted them as she approached. "I just saw Sheldon leaving, was that his girlfriend with him?"

There was a moment of awkward silence as Leonard choked violently on his drink and she could see Raj slump miserably against the counter. Penny and Howard gave each other a silent glance, before they snorted in unison.

Renée blinked.

"Erm, I guess that's a no?" She tried, in a bemused voice.

"She is not his girlfriend." Raj mumbled into his glas, looking like he considered trying to drown Sheldon in it. Or maybe himself, she wasn't sure. Renée's eyebrows quirked up, because that must have been the first words she ever heard the Indian speak.

"You're just cranky because Sheldon left with your date." Howard stated with a shrug.

"Of course I'm cranky. She was my date!" Raj exclaimed loudly.

"Well, to be fair, you called her fat." The interjection came from Penny, who was busy mixing a drink on the other side of the bar.

"I said she used to be fat, it was a compliment!"

"Sweetie, it's still an insult."

"It's not my fault, if Sheldon's suddenly all debonair. She would have fallen for me otherwise, I know it!"

"If you called her fat, how is that not your fault?" Renée jumped in, a little insulted on behalf of the other girl.

"Hey, I am still adjusting here."

Her bewilderment must have shown, because Leonard thankfully jumped in to explain. "We, uh, found out that alcohol helps Raj with his problem talking to woman and, uhm, we're still trying to find the optimal input-effect ratio."

Renée just stared at him incredulously until he began to shift uncomfortably.

"See, he understands me." Raj tipped his glass in the general direction of the awkward Leonard.

"You say that as if you're less of an ass when you're not drunk." Howard added easily, grabbing a few pretzels from the bar. "The women just don't hear it then."

"Hey!"

Ah, well, this conversation got awkward very fast and the Brit gratefully accepted Penny's distraction when she asked her what she'd like to drink. Lowering herself on the free stool next to Leonard, Renée quickly scanned the assortment of alcoholic beverages behind her friend, smiling when she spotted a familiar orange label.

"I'll take the Glenmorangie you have over there." She said, pointing. "Make it a double, and no ice."

Half a minute later she received her glass on a napkin and smiled when the blonde fixed herself a smaller drink of her own. Raising it in salute, they clinked their glasses.

"Drinking on the job, Penny? Really, what will your customers say?" Renée teased her.

"Oh shut up, what customers are you talking about? There's barely anyone here tonight, except you and the boys. All that's gonna happen is that Howards gonna try to come onto me when he thinks I'm…." she went silent, with a considering expression on her face. "...hey, do you think that's a good way to earn more tips?"

"I wouldn't know. My, err, 'customer's' were more likely to run away or attack than pay me." Renée answered amused. Catching the slightly apprehensive look on Leonards face next to her, she added "It's probably not worth the risk, if your boss sees you drinking the stock yourself."

"Egh, probably." Penny admitted with a pout but quickly perked up again. "So, what are we drinking to? A soon opening, maybe?"

"Hmm, yes actually." The brit answered with a pleased smile. "It looks like I can open come March."

"Really? Good for you!" Penny cheered and reached over the bar to give her friend a light punch on the arm, only to quickly withdraw when Renée flinched away from the unexpected contact.

Seeing the brief look of hurt that flashed over the blonde's face, Renée's good mood vanished instantly and she flushed with embarrassment. Trying to look away, she landed on Leonard's look of surprise instead and the heat in her face grew even worse.

"Sorry." She mumbled mortified and tried hard to ignore the significant look that passed between Leonard and Penny.

It took awhile to get the conversation going again.


End file.
